Bumgarner’s shutout gives Giants 3-2 Series lead

MIKE FITZPATRICK
AP Sports Writer

It’s over. Madison Bumgarner finishes a four-hit shutout and the San Francisco Giants beat the Royals 5-0 to take a 3-2 lead in the World Series heading back to Kansas City.

He becomes the first pitcher to throw a World Series shutout since Josh Beckett on short rest at Yankee Stadium in 2003. Becket’s gem clinched the championship for the Florida Marlins in Game 6.

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Bumgarner is through eight innings for the Giants, working on a four-hit shutout and seemingly in complete control. He’s thrown 77 of 107 pitches for strikes.

The big lefty has allowed one run in four career World Series starts spanning 30 innings.

How’d they ever get one?

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Juan Perez hammers a two-run double off the very top of the center-field fence in the bottom of the eighth. Brandon Crawford loops a single to left for his third RBI, increasing San Francisco’s lead to 5-0.

No home runs in San Francisco during this World Series. The previous time three consecutive Series games were played without a homer was Games 1-3 of the 1948 matchup between the Boston Braves and Cleveland Indians, according to STATS.

Announcers on Fox had just mentioned that Royals reliever Wade Davis didn’t give up an extra-base hit this season until July 31. And opposing batters went 1 for 18 against him with runners in scoring position this year.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy lets Bumgarner bat to the delight of the crowd, so he’ll get a chance to finish his second shutout of this postseason.

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Another hit for Hunter Pence. If the Giants win this World Series, maybe he and Bumgarner can split the MVP trophy.

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Good news for the Giants: When a best-of-seven World Series has been tied 2-all, the winner of Game 5 has gone on to win the championship 27 out of 41 times, STATS said.

Bad news for the Giants: The only team in the past two decades to close out a World Series on the road in Game 6 or 7 was the 2003 Florida Marlins behind Beckett.

Three times in that span a team has headed home trailing 3-2 in the Series and won Games 6 and 7 to take the title.

In fact, the Royals did it the last time they were in the World Series back in 1985, beginning a stretch of three straight years in which the home team won Games 6 and 7.

Proceed, sir.

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San Francisco extends its lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning on a two-out RBI single by Brandon Crawford.

Frustration for Kansas City starter James Shields, who threw a good breaking ball down and away on a 2-2 count. Crawford, however, reached out and poked it for a soft single that scored Pablo Sandoval.

Kung Fu Panda opened the inning with a single and moved to second on Travis Ishikawa’s two-out single.

Adding to the aggravation for Shields and the Royals is that the pitcher was on deck — although Bumgarner is no slouch at the plate.

On the mound, Bumgarner is rolling along the same way he has all October. He retired 10 straight before Omar Infante’s one-out double in the fifth, but the bottom two batters in the lineup followed.

The 25-year-old ace promptly struck out Jarrod Dyson and pitcher James Shields to keep the Giants ahead 2-0.

Bumgarner has struck out seven and walked none, throwing 49 of 64 pitches for strikes.

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Very sad news for baseball in the middle of this World Series game.

St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder Oscar Taveras has died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.

National police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete confirmed Taveras’ death on his Twitter account. Taveras’ agent and the Cardinals’ representative in the Caribbean country also said Sunday that the outfielder had died.

The 22-year-old Taveras, one of the game’s top prospects, made his major league debut this season. The promising slugger hit .239 with three homers and 22 RBIs in 80 games.

He was 3 for 7 in the postseason with a pinch-hit homer that tied Game 2 of the NL Championship Series against San Francisco.

Only two weeks later, Taveras is gone. Such a shame.

Fox reporter Ken Rosenthal relays the shocking news to the television audience during Game 5.

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The Giants grab an early lead in Game 5 by taking a page out of Kansas City’s playbook with a key bunt.

Red-hot Hunter Pence hits a leadoff single in the second inning that just gets past shortstop Alcides Escobar. With the Royals’ infield shifted to the right, Brandon Belt drops down a bunt to the left side and beats Escobar’s throw to first for a single.

Tom Verducci on the Fox broadcast says it’s the first bunt hit of Belt’s career.

Both runners advance on Travis Ishikawa’s deep fly to center, and Pence scores on Brandon Crawford’s groundout to put San Francisco up 1-0.

Verducci says it’s the 18th time this postseason that a San Francisco run has scored on something other than a hit.

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Madison Bumgarner gives up a leadoff single in the second, then strikes out the next three batters. He’s got five Ks through three innings.

Nobody better under postseason pressure right now.

Bumgarner and James Shields each gave up a two-out single in a scoreless first.

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After a full day of football, time to shift gears and get ready for Game 5 of the World Series.

Just a few spare minutes to make a quick run to the fridge for a refill before the first pitch in San Francisco.

Big one coming up, to say the least. With the Royals and Giants tied at two games apiece, San Francisco sends October ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound against scuffling James Shields.

Bumgarner is 3-1 with a 1.40 ERA in five starts this postseason. He’s also 3-0 in three career World Series outings, allowing one run in 22 innings.

Shields, meanwhile, is 1-1 with a 7.11 ERA in four games this postseason. He was tagged by the Giants for five runs and seven hits over three-plus innings in a Game 1 loss to Bumgarner.

Probably a good chance this is Shields’ final start in a Kansas City uniform. The right-hander can become a free agent after the World Series.

The temperature at first pitch was a very comfortable 67 degrees.

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Royals manager Ned Yost made a little tweak to his lineup, moving up Salvador Perez to the No. 5 spot and dropping Mike Moustakas to the No. 6 hole.

That breaks up lefties Eric Hosmer and Moustakas with a right-handed hitter in Perez. Hosmer and Moustakas batted back-to-back in Games 3 and 4.

Travis Ishikawa back in left field for San Francisco against right-hander James Shields. Juan Perez started in left against lefty Jason Vargas in Game 4.

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Following batting practice on a sun-splashed afternoon, the ceremonial first pitch — an eephus pitch — was thrown out by Zak Williams, a son of late comedian and actor Robin Williams, who was a longtime Giants fan.

The pitch was caught by Robin Williams’ friend, Billy Crystal, and a video tribute was played at AT&T Park.

Williams’ two other children, Zelda and Cody, accompanied Zak.

The video board showed a recording of Robin Williams pumping up the crowd at AT&T Park before a 2010 playoff game.

Darren Baker, son of former Giants manager Dusty Baker, delivered the game ball along with ex-San Francisco first baseman J.T. Snow and 16-year-old Amanda Blanco of the Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo County.

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Royals manager Ned Yost doesn’t plan to watch a World Series replay when it’s over.

“I’m going to go back and lock the gate to my farm, and I’m going to try to find me a deer that I can have some fun with over there with my bow and arrow,” he said.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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