Giants hold on for a 3-2 Game 7 World Series win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One Giant performance won the World Series.

Madison Bumgarner came out of the bullpen in Game 7 and threw five scoreless innings to pick up a third win in the series, and the San Francisco Giants held on for a 3-2, title-clinching victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

San Francisco’s ace left-hander went 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in two World Series starts, and he finished 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA.

The Giants became the first road team to win a World Series Game 7 since the Pittsburgh Pirates won in 1979 at Baltimore. The last nine home teams prevailed in Game 7.

San Francisco captured its third World Series title in five years, the first National League team to accomplish that since the St. Louis Cardinals in 1942, 1944 and 1946. The Giants also became the first team to win 12 games in a single postseason.

After Kansas City second baseman Omar Infante led off the fifth with a single, Bumgarner retired 14 straight until left fielder Alex Gordon singled with two out in the ninth. Gordon raced to third as the ball scooted past center fielder Gregor Blanco for an error and rolled to the wall.

Bumgarner picked up Blanco by retiring catcher Salvador Perez on a foul pop up to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, setting off the Giants’ celebration.

Sandoval, right fielder Hunter Pence and first baseman Brandon Belt — the Giants’ Nos. 4, 5 and 6 hitters — combined to go 7-for-11 and scored all three runs. Sandoval’s three hits hiked his total to 26 this month, a major league record for a single postseason.

Bumgarner, who threw 117 pitches in shutting out Kansas City on Sunday, came back on two days’ rest and again turned the Royals’ lumber into putty.

Neither starter lasted long. Giants starter Tim Hudson was gone before the second inning ended. Royals starter and losing pitcher Jeremy Guthrie failed to make it out of the fourth.

The Royals’ three-headed bullpen monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland combined to throw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out nine, after Guthrie departed.

However, the Bumgarner Beast bested them.

The Giants struck first with two runs in the second, both scoring on outs.

Guthrie began the inning by hitting Sandoval with a pitch and yielding singles to Pence and Belt to load the bases with nobody out.

Designated hitter Michael Morse and shortstop Brandon Crawford got Sandoval and Pence home with sacrifice flies.

The Royals, however, promptly answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Designated hitter Billy Butler led off with a single and rumbled home from first on Gordon’s double to center that rolled to the wall. Gordon was hitting a paltry .094 in the previous nine games.

Next, Perez was hit by a Hudson pitch near the left knee and was down in pain for several minutes while trainer Nick Kenney and manager Ned Yost attended him. Perez remained in the game.

Gordon advanced to third on third baseman Mike Moustakas’ flyout to left field and scored on Infante’s sacrifice fly to center.

After Hudson yielded a single to shortstop Alcides Escobar, Giants manager Bruce Bochy replaced him with left-hander Jeremy Affeldt.

Hudson, who at 39 years, 107 days was the oldest Game 7 starting pitcher in history, retired only five of the 10 batters he faced and threw just 28 pitches. That was the shortest Game 7 start since 1960, when the New York Yankees pulled Bob Turley after one inning.

For the second night in a row, San Francisco’s starter failed to make it through two innings. Jake Peavy retired only four batters in a 10-0 Giants loss on Tuesday.

It was the first time since 1984 that World Series starters failed to make it through two innings in back-to-back starts. Ed Whitson and Tim Lollar of the San Diego Padres each failed in Game 2 and 3 to get six outs in the World Series against Detroit.

Guthrie, 35, did not last much longer than Hudson. He was yanked after 15 batters and 3 1/3 innings. Sandoval and Pence opened the fourth with singles. Sandoval moved up 90 feet on Belt’s flyout.

Yost replaced Guthrie with Herrera. Morse fell behind in the count 0-2 before singling to right to score Sandoval, putting the Giants up 3-2.

Affeldt, who broke in with the Royals in 2002, worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He extended his consecutive scoreless outing streak to 22 in the postseason. Only Mariano Rivera, 23, has a longer streak in major league history.

Affeldt turned a one-run lead over to Bumgarner, who limited the Royals to one run and seven hits in 16 innings in winning his two World Series starts, in the fifth.

Herrera was removed after 2 2/3 scoreless innings and throwing 28 strikes in 33 pitches, but he allowed one of Guthrie’s runners to score and that was the difference after seven innings. Wade Davis replaced Herrera to start the seventh.

Bumgarner, who was making his first relief appearance since the 2010 NLCS, retired nine straight after Infante’s leadoff single in the sixth as the Giants held on to a 3-2 advantage heading into the eighth.

NOTES: Royals 1B Eric Hosmer went 0-for-4 in Game 7. He finished with 20 postseason hits, tying CF Willie Wilson’s franchise record for most hits in a postseason, set in 1985. … Giants 1B Brandon Belt drew 11 walks in postseason play, second in single-season franchise history, but far off the club record. Barry Bonds walked 27 times in the 2002 postseason. … RHP Kyle Zimmer, the Royals’ top pick in the 2012 draft who underwent shoulder surgery Tuesday, was at Kauffman Stadium for Game 7 with his arm in a sling. … Bret Saberhagen, who shutout the Cardinals in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Royals Hall of Famer Mark Gubicza, who was also in the 1985 rotation, delivered the official game ball to the mound. … Joyce DiDonato, a 2012 Grammy Award winner for best classical vocal solo who went to high school in Kansas City, performed the national anthem.