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Giants pound Shields, Royals in World Series opener

 
Royals starter James Shields gets pulled by manager Ned Yost with two runners on and no outs in the fourth inning.
Royals starter James Shields gets pulled by manager Ned Yost with two runners on and no outs in the fourth inning.
Published Oct. 22, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Madison Bumgarner and the Giants put a sudden stop to the Royals' perfect postseason roll.

Bumgarner pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, Hunter Pence homered off former Ray James Shields and the Giants showed off their October poise, shutting down the Royals 7-1 Tuesday night in the World Series opener.

From the get-go, the Giants simply did everything right to win their seventh straight World Series game.

The Royals, meanwhile, looked nothing like the fresh team that had become baseball's darlings by starting the playoffs with eight wins in a row. Pitching, hitting and fielding all deserted them.

The fates seemed to change from the very first batter, in fact. Gregor Blanco led off with a soft line drive to centerfield and AL Championship Series MVP Lorenzo Cain charged, then backed off as the ball fell for a single. It would've taken a near miracle to catch it, but that's the kind of play the Royals had been making routinely.

Moments later, Pence's homer highlighted a three-run burst in the first inning against Shields.

"He's a great talent, he's a great hitter. He's a guy we want up there in a key situation,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Nicknamed "Big Game James," Shields again failed to live up to that billing and left in the fourth when the Giants made it 5-0.

By then, Royals fans who had waited since 1985 for the Series to come to town had gone silent. Or, worse, they were booing while small "Let's go, Giants!" chants echoed through Kauffman Stadium.

Just like that, what many figured would be a tight matchup had turned into a mismatch.

The Game 1 winner has won 15 of the past 17 World Series.

Bumgarner added to his sparkling World Series resume, improving to 3-0 and extending his scoreless streak to 21 innings before Salvador Perez homered in the seventh.

The 25-year-old called MadBum was in trouble once. Down 3-0, the Royals loaded the bases with a two-out walk, but cleanup man Eric Hosmer grounded out on the first pitch.

Bumgarner went on to stretch his road postseason scoreless streak to a record 322/3 innings.

"He's special,'' Pence said.

Michael Morse, getting to play as the DH in the AL park, had an RBI single that finished Shields, and reliever Danny Duffy walked Blanco with the bases loaded.

Rookie Joe Panik hit an RBI triple that bounced past usually reliable rightfielder Nori Aoki in the seventh and scored on a single by Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval also had an RBI double in the first that extended his postseason streak of reaching base to 24 games.

Pence also doubled and walked.

Before the game, the mood at the ballpark was positively giddy. Ushers greeted fans with "Welcome to the World Series!" and hot-dog vendors high-fived each other behind the counter.

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Yet the Giants wrecked that fun and won for the 16th time in their past 18 postseason games.

The Royals had won 11 straight in the postseason dating to their 1985 championship run, one short of the record held by two Yankees clubs.

Not even the little things went well for them. Kansas City third-base coach Mike Jirschele retrieved a foul ball and tried to flip it into the stands. His toss fell well short of reaching the seats.