The fall classic has become a roller coaster of emotions for both the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. Something very unique has been occurring in this year’s World Series and that is the feeling that you do not know what is going to happen next. Attempting to predict what will happen towards the end of this series is pretty much useless as we have seen by the results so far.
This game featured a pitching match-up between Ryan Vogelsong and Jason Vargas. The Giants were confident going with Vogelsong, given his good postseason stats. It also permitted the Giants to save Madison Bumgarner for game 5 of the series tomorrow night.
It all began quickly in the bottom of the 1st inning when Gregor Blanco earned a walk, and he would eventually score the game’s first run on a Hunter Pence fielder’s choice. Pence quickly ran down the first base line as the Royals tried to turn an inning ending double play, but Pence was comfortably safe.
It was in the top of the 3rd inning when the Royals got the Giants in trouble and became Kansas City’s biggest and only rally in the ballgame. In an inning that appeared would end sooner rather than later, the Royals managed to get weak hit baseballs to fall in for hits. Players like Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer used their speed as well to get infield hits.
The big hit in the inning came off of Omar Infante‘s bat, a sharp single up the middle with the bases loaded that scored two runs. The Infante hit was then followed by another RBI hit by teammate Salvador Perez. The Royals took what seemed to be a comfortable 4-1 lead.
The joy did not last long for the Royals as the Giants managed to cut the lead back to two after an RBI single by Buster Posey that scored Matt Duffy.
It was the 5th, 6th, and 7th inning that decided this game. The Giants tallied 9 runs in those three innings combined, scoring2 runs in the 5th, 3 runs in the 6th, and 4 runs in the 7th. Hunter Pence once again came through and cut the lead to one in the 5th inning after an RBI single up the middle.
The Giants then went on to tie the game when Juan Perez hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to center fielder Jarrod Dyson who made an amazing diving catch but was unable to prevent the run from scoring.
San Francisco arguably had their most important inning in the 6th when they put up a 3-spot on the board and took a 7-4 lead. Pablo Sandoval hit a momentum-shifting line drive single with two outs and the bases loaded, regaining the lead for San Francisco.
Brandon Belt quickly added to the damage and contributed with his own RBI single.
Eventually the floodgates opened and the Giants exploded for four more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. Key contributors in the inning were Blanco, Joe Panik, and Pence. The Giants took a convincing and decisive 11-4 win.
Neither of the starting pitchers went deep into this ballgame, Vogelsong only went 2.2 innings and gave up 4 earned runs, while Vargas pitched 4 innings and gave up 3 earned runs. Both pitchers finished with no decisions.
The Giants they a great job to get to the Royals pitching staff before getting to the 6th inning, where they most likely would have faced the trio of the Royals back-end bullpen combination of Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera, and Greg Holland.
Game 5 of this series will feature a rematch of game 1 with starting pitchers Madison Bumgarner and James Shields scheduled to toe the rubber. Momentum is most likely on the Giants side now after they scored 10 unanswered runs and will have Bumgarner start crucial game 5.
James Shields has 4 starts this postseason with a 1-1 record and an ERA of 7.11, on the other hand, Madison Bumgarner has started 5 games this postseason with a 3-1 record and and ERA of 1.40.
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