Untouchable Bumgarner puts Giants on the brink
Print Edition
MADISON Bumgarner put the San Francisco Giants just one win from yet another championship, allowing just four hit to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 on Sunday for a 3-2 World Series edge.
Hardly menacing on the mound, Bumgarner was simply untouchable — again — as “MVP! MVP!” chants broke out in the late innings.
“You know what? For some reason, I keep getting really lucky this time of year, so I’ll take it,” Bumgarner said.
By the time the 25-year-old from Hickory, North Carolina, closed out his second win in a week, he had evoked memories of Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Curt Schilling and the top October aces of all-time.
“Very humbling,” Bumgarner said.
Who else has gone 4-0 in four World Series starts with an 0.29 ERA? Throw in only 12 hits in 31 innings, along with 27 strikeouts, and that adds up to the very definition of Big-Game Pitcher.
“He’s special, isn’t he?” manager Bruce Bochy said during a quiet moment in his office eating dinner. “What a stud.”
Giants Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal mingled in the clubhouse, too, waiting his turn to congratulate the man with the curly, stringy hair.
“He’s so smooth. I say that he’s cold-blooded. When he’s on the mound, he dominates everybody. Everybody,” Marichal said.
On this evening, Bumgarner struck out eight batters without a walk and never was in trouble, becoming the first pitcher to toss a World Series shutout since Josh Beckett’s clinching gem for the Florida Marlins in 2003 at Yankee Stadium.
The Giants’ work isn’t done yet. To lock up their third crown in five years, they’ll need to win in Kansas City.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to our home crowd, where it’s going to be absolutely wild and crazy,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.
Jake Peavy gets the first chance to seal it for San Francisco when he starts Game 6 at Kauffman Stadium tonight against rookie Yordano Ventura. If the Giants don’t win then, there was always this possibility: Bumgarner out of the bullpen in Game 7.
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