Not only did the San Francisco Giants take Game 7 of the World Series for their third title in five seasons, Madison Bumgarner took his own special place in the long and heralded history of this great sport.
After winning two games earlier in the series, Bumgarner came in as a reliever on two day’s rest with the Giants leading 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth. He proceded to go out there and pitch five scoreless innnings for what amounts to one of the greatest performances in World Series history.
The World Series MVP finished this series giving up a total of one run in 21 innings. And over the course of his career, Bumgarner has yielded one run in 36 World Series innings for a ridiculous 0.25 ERA. Yeah, that’s a MLB record right there.
But before Bumgarner joined the history books and names like Cy Young, Walter Johnson and Sandy Koufax, the Giants opened up a 3-2 lead. Here is how it happened.
The game started with San Francisco taking a two-run lead on sacrifice flies by Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford in the second inning. It’s this type of fundamental baseball that came do define both teams in the lead up to Game 7. And without much hesitation, the Royals responded by putting up two runs with the very same fundamental baseball we saw from the Giants in the top half of the second.
In what was probably the single biggest World Series play in recent history, rookie Giants second baseman Joe Panik robbed Eric Hosmer of a single in the bottom half of the third with a runner on first and nobody out. And instead of it being first and third, which would have given the Royals a golden opportunity to take the lead, this dazzling play could have very well saved the series for the Giants.
While Hosmer was originally called safe at first, a lengthy review resulted in him being called out and the Giants turning one of the most improbable double plays in recent history. San Francisco ended up taking a 3-2 lead in the top half of the fourth on a Michael Morse single.
With the Giants up 3-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, World Series hero Madison Bumgarner came in.
It wasn’t without drama, as Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco committed an error on a would be single that enabled Alex Gordon to get to third base with two outs. The unlikely World Series matchup then ended with Bumgarner getting Royals catcher Salvador Perez to pop out to end the game.