Bumgarner gets kick out of denying Royals a rally
By Larry Fine KANSAS CITY Missouri (Reuters) - Madison Bumgarner welcomes a challenge, and the San Francisco Giants ace left-hander handled a big one with aplomb in Tuesday's victory in the World Series opener against the Kansas City Royals. After the Giants staked him to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Bumgarner faced a sticky jam when Mike Moustakas doubled after Omar Infante reached on an error by shortstop Brandon Crawford to put men on second and third with no outs. Bumgarner struck out Alcides Escobar and contact hitter Nori Aoki and then induced a ground ball out from Eric Hosmer to escape without giving up a run as the Giants rolled to a 7-1 victory. "That is one of my favorite things to be able to do in baseball is to work through a situation like that," said Bumgarner. "My team mates picked me up way more often than I get a chance to pick them up," he said about Crawford's error. "Those strikeout situations, we were going for them and trying to keep them off the board. That's nice." A dominant Bumgarner dazzled the Royals all night with a zippy fastball, a darting cutter and a slow curve that had Kansas City hitters struggling to control their swings. Kansas City was shut out until Salvador Perez hit a home run in the seventh inning that ended a postseason record string of 32 and two-thirds innings of scoreless pitching on the road. "It's tough not to pay attention to a streak when you've got it going," admitted Bumgarner. "(But) I don't care. I'm not here trying to set records and keep streaks going and whatever. "Tonight, that was the last thing on my mind. We're up 7-0, so I'm just trying to compete and go after guys and be aggressive." Bumgarner, the MVP of the National League Championship Series also sparkled with his glove, snaring a wicked line drive stroked by Aoki and knocking down another blistering shot hit by Perez that the big left-hander turned into a double play. "It wasn't really special," he said. "I'd prefer them to not hit it back at me, but that's the way the game goes." (Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
