The Kansas City Royals finally suffered their first lost of the 2014 MLB Postseason, with the San Francisco Giants proving to be the only team able to stop the freight train that started in Kansas City after the Royals defeated the Oakland A’s to win the Wild Card. This was only Game 1 of a 7-game series but it will have been a wakeup call for the Royals since their ace James Shields did not have ace pitches.
Shields was simply beaten up by the Giants offense, and was only able to pitch 3 mediocre innings, allowing 7 hits and 5 earned runs in the process. Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence led the way with each contributing 2 RBIs, while Michael Morse, Gregor Blanco, and Joe Panik also had 1 RBI each.
During the top of the 1st the Giants jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Blanco led off the game with a single to shallow right, and tagged from first base to second base after Panik hit a pop out to deep center. Buster Posey came up next, singling to left, moving Blanco to third base. Pablo Sandoval then slapped a double off the right field wall, scoring Blanco from third with Posey thrown out at home plate. Hunter Pence was up next and he didn’t miss his pitch, driving a ‘hit-me’ fastball deep into center for a 2-run homer.
With a strong 3-run lead, the Royals had a tough time coming back with Madison Bumgarner on the mound. Bumgarner pitched 7 strong innings, allowing only 3 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 5 in the process. The only earned run he surrendered was to Salvador Perez, who hit a solo shot to left field in the 7th inning. With his stellar performance, Bumgarner lowered his career World Series ERA down to 0.41. If you want a true ace for big games, you saw one pitching Game 1 for the Giants.
The Giants were able to increase their lead in the top of the 4th inning, scoring another 2 runs. Pence doubled to lead off the inning before advancing to third after a wild pitch by Shields. Brandon Belt was then able to draw a walk. An RBI single by Morse followed, scoring Pence and advancing Belt to 2nd, which was enough for Ned Yost to pull Shields from the game. Danny Duffy relieved Shields, and as he entered the game, Juan Perez pinch hit for Travis Ishikawa. Perez laid down a sacrifice bunt towards third, advancing Belt to third and Morse to second. Brandon Crawford loaded the bases with a walk. With the bases loaded, Duffy walked Blanco for the second time in a row, allowing Belt to score from third and increasing the lead to 5-0.
San Francisco was able to put the game away in the 7th with Panik’s RBI triple to right field that Nori Aoki of the Royals misplayed. The triple brought Blanco home and put the Giants up 6-0. After Posey lined out to first, Sandoval was able to drive in his second RBI of the game with a single to left, giving the Giants a 7-0 lead.
The Royals were not able to score until the bottom of the 7th thanks to Salvador Perez‘s solo home run to left field.
Throughout the game you could tell the Royals were not in the game. They seemed to have their heads down and did not have an answer for Madison Bumgarner. The fans were also out of it and had no energy thanks to the large deficit the Royals had to play from. Game 2 will be played on Wednesday in Kansas City. The pitching matchup will be Jake Peavy (7-13) against Yordano Ventura (14-10). Look for the Royals to jump out early on Peavy and allow Ventura to carry them as far as he can to give the bullpen a much-needed rest.
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