A Royal Shutout

For the 3rd time in 5 years the Giants were in the World Series and Giants’ fans were starting to get used to it. Manager Brucy Bochy had truly shown he knew how to win in October. All the team had to do was get him there. None of the three Giants’ teams to reach the World Series were the best team in the league so they were underdogs in almost every single postseason series. In 2010 they were 92-70, second most wins behind the Phillies’ 97. 2012 was the Giants’ best year at 94-68 but they still had fewer wins than the Nats and Reds, and were tied with Braves. This year, at 88-74, they just snuck in as the second Wild Card team. But that’s no matter. Just get Bochy into October and he’ll take it from there… with a little aid from Madison Bumgarner.

The Giants would be playing Kansas City this year. In their Wild Card game, the Royals came back to win one of the most amazing postseason games in the history of the sport. They were trailing 7-3 entering the bottom of the 8th and put on a severe ground attack. With 2 walks, a wild pitch, and 4 stolen bases were able to put up a 3 spot, then tied it in the 9th on a sac fly. The A’s would take the lead in the 12th but with the help of another stolen base and a Salvy single, the Royals walked it off. A very different game than the Giants 8-0 stomping over Pittsburgh.

So the 2014 World Series was a battle of teams that won the Wild Card game. The first time this happened was in 2002 and it also involved the Giants. That series went 7 games, as you may recall, and the Giants ended up not having a parade. But the 2002 team didn’t have Madison Bumgarner on their roster. Despite being 24, Bumgarner was clearly the ace of the team. The other postseason starters were Tim Hudson (38), Vogelsong (36), and Jake Peavy (33). At this point in the year, Hudson was tired. He and Vogey had thrown 180+ innings, and Peavy only 78.2 IP, but looked tired as well. If the Giants were going to win their 3rd trophy in 5 years, they would need Bum to pick up some slack.

He did his part in Game 1 of the WS by throwing 7 innings of 3 hit, 1 ER ball for the W. Peavy and Hudson would start the next 2 games and lose both. After a rough start by Vogey in Game 4, the Giants bats would wake up in the 5th with a 2 spot to tie the game at 4. Then in the 6th and 7th the Giants would score 7 and win going away 11-4. This brings us to Game 5: the last game at AT&T Park for the year and Bumgarner’s final start of the postseason.

Snowball’s Chance In Hell

The difference between Bumgarner’s pitching and the rest of the Giants rotation was stark. With Bum on the mound you knew the Giants were going to win. It was the other days that made you pull your hair out. If he was a Disney character, he’d be Beast of “Beauty and the Beast”. Game 1 proved the Royals couldn’t hit him. But this was their second chance. Now they’ve seen him and can adjust. In Bum’s career he’s never pitched twice in the same World Series. To this point in October, Bumgarner’s started 5 games and has held opponents to a bleak .162 average. In those 38.2 IP his ERA is an incredible 1.40. I think the scientific world calls that Absolute Dominance.

The top of the 1st inning was the tone setter. Alcides Escobar leads off and flies out on the first pitch of the game. Swinging at the first pitch was something he’d become famous for the next postseason when the Royals would win the World Series over the Mets in 5 games. So Escobar’s gone on 1 pitch and Bum would get Gordon to ground out and after a Lo Cain single, would strike out Hosmer on 4 pitches. He had a quick pace and was attacking the zone, forcing the Royals to swing early, and keeping his pitch count low.

Jumping to the top of the 5th, this was the best chance the Royals had against Bum. At this point it’s 2-0 Giants and Bum’s at 50 pitches, retiring 10 in a row and throwing 12 of 14 first pitch strikes. Moustakas leads off the inning and swings at the first pitch, hitting a soft line drive to shallow center field that would have been a hit if Crawford wasn’t shifter so far over. A great call by the Giants’ defensive coaches to place him there. Next up is Omar Infante who flips a 2-1 fastball into shallow left center. Ishikawa breaks late and ends up diving for it, not coming close and it bounces by him. Blanco has to back him up but it’s too late and Infante is on 2nd with a 1 out double. A more experienced outfielder would have stayed on his feet to play that ball, keeping Infante at 1st. But we will forgive Travis for that one. Bumgarner would then take care of Dyson and Shields by striking them both out, giving him 7 K’s through 5.

That was the biggest threat of the game by Kansas City. A 1 out double that never advanced. In the 9 innings pitched by Bumgarner, the most batters he faced in an inning was 4 (top of 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th). Other than that it was 3 up, 3 down all game. Absolute Dominance.

B Craw

When you’re on a championship winning team everyone contributes. It’s a new guy every night. You can’t rely on just your cleanup hitter or your horse on the mound. Tonight, the baseball gods would look fondly upon Brandon Crawford.

Craw already had a huge moment this postseason as his 4th inning grand slam ended the Pirates season in the Wild Card game. But since then he went 11-50 for a .220 postseason average. But you don’t need to get hits to come up huge. Sometimes all you need to do is hit a fly ball or even ground out to 2nd.

The bottom of the 2nd of Game 5 began with a Hunter Pence single on a 0-2 pitch from Big Game James. Certainly that nickname was given to him before the 2014 World Series began. In any case, Pence is on 1st with no outs for Brandon Belt, who had a huge moment for himself too this postseason. It’s well known that Belt is a pull hitter and teams often shift on him. Even with Pence on 1st that’s exactly what Kansas City does as they make short stop Escobar the only guy on the left side of the infield. Well, Belt notices this and on Shields’ first pitch he lays down a great bunt to the left side! It rolls past Shields as Escobar charges and barehand’s it. Belt, hustling down the line, loses his helmet as he stretches for that final step to the bag and Escobar actually makes this play a lot closer than it should have been but Belt just beats it and the Giants are in business with 2 on and no outs. It’s quite literally bang-bang at first. Replays show Belt beats it by about 5 inches. Hosmer doesn’t really help out his short stop on this play with a lame stretch that allows the baby giraffe to beat it out. This brings up NLCS hero Travis Ishikawa.

Travis would put up a hell of 7 pitch at bat and would eventually make a productive out. On a full count pitch he hits a high deep drive almost to the warning track in center field. Giants know Dyson has no arm and Pence and Belt are both able to tag up on the play! A rare double tag!

Now it’s Crawford with guys on 2nd and 3rd. We were just talking about him! He must do something good here! Craw swings and fouls the first pitch, strike 1. Shields comes back wih offspeed stuff in the dirt to make it 1-1. A lot of time between pitches here as Shields steps off, thinking about a new nickname. The third pitch is way outside, easy take for Craw. Giants making him work here. But Craw swings badly at a great changeup to even the count at 2-2, way ahead of it. With Bumgarner on deck this is a huge at bat here. You have a base open so you don’t have to groove one. The 2-2 is another changeup but it’s outside. That’s 3 in a row. Does he go with 4? Full count to Craw. Shields deals another changeup but this time Crawford a bit early on it and rolls it over to second base. With Pence’s speed on 3rd he scores easily on the 4-3 and the Giants are up 1-0 on 2 productive outs in a row.

Odd that Ned Yost chose not to play the infield in in that scenario. That would have been right at a drawn in 2nd baseman and Pence may have been out at home and no runs would have scored that inning. Instead, 1 run is all it takes to defeat them. Great at bat by the Forever Giant Brandon Crawford.

In Craw’s next at bat, he’s got runners in scoring position again, this time with 2 outs. It’s the bottom of the 4th, still 1-0 Giants. Panda started it with a single, but then strike outs by Pence and Belt have put Shields an out away from getting through 4 but first he has to deal with Travis. Ishikawa will not go quietly and on the second pitch he sees singles under Escobar’s glove into left field to move Sandoval up to second.

So here’s B Craw again with a chance to drive in another run. Pitching him carefully, Shields has got the count to 2-2 and the fifth pitch is a curve ball that Craw goes down to get and flips it into shallow center! Dyson, with great speed, charges but it drops for a hit! Panda starts to hold up at third but Dyson kicks it and he ends up scoring easily and it’s 2-0 Giants! Unclear why Panda started to put the breaks on there. With 2 outs you’re not waiting to see if it gets caught, you’re off to the races. Also, Shields had Craw where he wanted him but couldn’t put him away. You can tell all Crawford was trying to do in both at bats was put it in play and not do too much. Two fantastic ABs from the Giants’ short stop.

Juan Perez

It was the bottom of the 8th, Giants still up 2-0 and setup man Kelvin Herrera, who threw a scoreless 7th was still in there. Sandoval greets him with a single to center, followed by a Pence single to left (those two are always so good together in the postseason). That’s all for Herrera and Yost brings in fireballer Wade Davis to get the next 3 outs. After a 6 pitch battle against Belt, Davis gets him looking for out number 1. Enter Juan Perez.

Juan Perez came up with the Giants in 2013 primarily for his speed and defense. In 2014, however, he played in 61 games. Despite a .170 average, Bochy elected to put him on the World Series roster as a late inning defensive replacement. That’s exactly what happened in this game. Ishikawa singled with 1 out in the 6th and Perez came in to run for him. Earlier that day Perez learned that a close friend of his, Cardinals’ outfielder Oscar Taveras, was killed the day before a car accident at age 22. The news of his death devastated Perez. But he had no time to grieve because he was playing in a World Series game.

Davis’ first pitch to him is at 96 and Perez swings right through it. He steps out of the box, pondering how to hit something at that velocity. The 0-1 is a fastball on the outside that Perez fouls straight back. He was on that one, but now is down 0-2. But Davis starts to nibble instead of going right after him. The next two pitches are easy takes low and outside and it’s 2-2. Perez fouls the 5th pitch off to stay alive, making Davis work. The next 2-2 is a 95 mph fastball way high and it’s a full count. Great at bat by Perez here. The fans start to get loud. Now Juan can look fastball and that’s exactly what he gets. Davis tries to blow 96 past him again but he grooves it right down the middle and Perez doesn’t miss it. He hammers it to centerfield towards the tv cameras.

Lorenzo Cain was playing on the other side of second base and has a long way to run for this one. Perez’s shot bangs high off the top of the wall, missing leaving the yard by about 4 inches. Cain plays the ricochet nicely and gets the ball in quickly to Escobar who relays it home but it’s not in time to get Pence as he slides in right behind Pablo! The ball gets away and Perez moves up to third with a big headfirst slide, pumping his fists in the air right in front of the Giants dugout.

No one’s happier for him than Hudson and Peavy who knew how much Taveras’s death effected Perez. They hug in the dugout as this moment is bigger than baseball. Meanwhile the stadium is going nuts as the Giants have finally broken this game open. What a clutch AB from a guy who’s seen little playing time. A huge moment and it’s 4-0 San Francisco.

The next guy up is Crawford so of course he flips a single into left to score Perez and it’s 5-0. A huge 3 RBI night for Brandon and the crowd gets fired up to the tune of Zombie Nation.

The 9th

Bum was already at 107 pitches but you know he had 100 left in him. No way he was coming out of this one. First pitch to Alex Gordon is a strike and on the 0-1 gets him to fly out to Pence. His first pitch to Cain is a strike and on the 0-1 gets him to ground out to short. So, quickly here in the 9th, Bum is 1 out away from the first complete game shutout in a World Series game since Josh Beckett closed out Game 6 at Yankee stadium in 2003.

Hosmer SWINGS and misses and it’s 0-1. Then Bum blows 92 right through him for strike 2. 43,000 people are on their feet, waiting to watch history happen as they try to finish their garlic fries. Bum then just misses outside, then gets Hosmer to check his swing but it’s a ball and it’s now 2-2. Bum can’t really believe the call on that one, but he’s so close to finishing this game he doesn’t give homeplate umpire Bill Miller any grief. The 2-2 is another ball JUST outside and it’s a full count. Bum’s working quickly here. Then on the full count pitch, Bumgarner finally gets Hosmer to ground out to Panda and that’s the ballgame!

A 117 pitch complete game shutout for Bum and it’s his second shutout of the postseason. He ties Christy Mathewson as the only pitchers in franchise history to throw 2 CG in a postseason. Mathewson threw his 109 years earlier in 1905! Bum improves to 4-0 in his World Series career with a .29 ERA which is the lowest all time with a minimum of 3 starts. A hero.

The Royals have to think that’s the last they’ve seen of him and can breath easy because now they’re going back home for a chance to force a Game 7. Plus, they’ve got Bumgarner out of the way. No way they see him again, right?

A Great At Bat

I would love to give this award to Juan Perez for his 6 pitch battle against Wade Davis in the 8th, but I can’t. Brandon Crawford had 3 RBIs in 4 at bats, driving in the first 2 runs of the game, the eventual game winners. His at bats were more “situational” too. With less than 2 outs and a guy on 3rd, all you need to do is hit a ground ball. You can’t strike out. He got the job done with 2 strikes. In the 4th, he had a guy on 2nd with 2 outs. In that situation, you need to get a hit to score him. He did that with 2 strikes again! Lastly in the 8th with a guy on 3rd and 1 out all you need to do is hit a fly ball or another grounder. Crawford got another hit. With 2 strikes! All 3 RBI came with 2 strikes. Crawford went deep into the count in every at bat, making the pitcher work. He saw 19 pitches in this game, second only to Panik’s 20. For these reasons, B Craw gets the W today.

Odd Stats

In this World Series, Royals pitchers threw 28 pitches with 2 strikes to Hunter Pence and they only struck him out once.

Belt had zero career bunt hits before his 2nd inning hit.

Wade Davis went 19 straight appearances without giving up a run before Perez and Crawford touched him for 3.

Juan Perez was 1-18 with RISP in 2014 before his 2 run double.

For the first time since 1948 there were 3 consecutive WS games played with no homeruns.

Bum is the 4th left handed pitcher to throw 2 shutouts in a single postseason joining Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson.

Ken Rosenthal asked Bumgarner after the game, “If there’s a Game 7, will you be available for it?” Bum just says, “You know it. Always.”

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Next Blog: 2014 World Series Game 7 – March 13, 2020