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Final Score: Giants 7, Royals 1
The San Francisco Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-1, easily breaking KC’s unbeaten streak in the playoffs to take a 1-0 lead in the World Series.
Here’s how it happened:
The Giants Offense Attacked Early
The Royals’ pitching has dominated throughout these playoffs, and getting to their starting pitching early was a crucial key for the Giants. Luckily for them, they got off to a hot start against Royals starter James Shields. With a couple of men on to start the first, Pablo Sandoval doubled down the right field line to give the Giants their first lead. Hunter Pence followed with a big two-run homer to add to the lead. Shields gave up three runs in the inning.
Madison Bumgarner Dominated Again
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Madison Bumgarner’s performances in previous World Series have given him a reputation of being not just great, but otherworldly great in big games. In his two previous World Series starts, he had pitched 15 innings and given up an improbable zero runs. Tuesday, he finally gave up his first run ever in a World Series, but still pitched a fantastic game, giving up one run in seven innings and striking out five.
The Giants Padded Their Lead Late in the Game
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The Giants knocked James Shields around, scoring five runs off the Kansas City ace in 3+ innings. The Royals’ bullpen has been unthinkably dominant this postseason, but their big three relievers (Herrera, Davis, and Holland) didn’t appear Tuesday, and the relievers that have appeared haven’t fared well. Danny Duffy relieved Shields in the fourth inning and ended up walking Gregor Blanco with the bases loaded to make it a 5-0 deficit for Kansas City. The Giants continued to score off the Royals bullpen in the seventh, as Joe Panik hit an RBI triple and came around to score on a Sandoval single.
Salvador Perez Saved the Royals From Being Shut Out
The Royals couldn’t get much offense going against Bumgarner, managing only two hits in the first six innings. But catcher Salvador Perez helped them to at least score, hitting a home run to left field and cutting the deficit to 7-1.
Kansas City will try to even the series in Game 2 Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 8 p.m, with TV coverage on Fox.
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World Series Game 1, Giants vs. Royals: Score & Highlights