Giants Near Title, Led by Ace Immune to Pressure or Royals

World Series 2014: Madison Bumgarner and Giants Shut Down Royals and Close In on Title

New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — With one out in the ninth inning and Madison Bumgarner looking as strong, and pitching as effortlessly, as he had in the first inning, the chant of “M.V.P.” started building like some kind of epiphany from the fans.

It was true. Bumgarner has clearly been the most valuable player of the World Series so far, and the postseason, as well. But those fans could just as easily have been chanting about an even greater time frame stretching back to 1903.

With another masterly World Series performance, Bumgarner cemented his place among the most valuable pitchers in the history of the World Series. His magnificent four-hit shutout, with no walks and eight strikeouts, carried the San Francisco Giants to a 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the World Series, and it put Bumgarner into a class that no other pitcher has reached.

In four World Series starts, covering one in 2010, another in 2012 and two this year, he is 4-0 with an earned run average of 0.29, having allowed just one run in 31 innings over the four starts.

Of all the great pitchers who have had the fortune to pitch in the World Series, from Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax to Whitey Ford and Mariano Rivera, none have accomplished that. No pitcher has a lower E.R.A. with at least 30 innings in the World Series. This postseason alone, Bumgarner is 4-1 with two shutouts and a 1.13 E.R.A.

“In the history of the game, there have been some great efforts,” said Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ manager, who has managed in four World Series and seen dozens more. “But I haven’t seen a better pitcher over the course of this postseason, and it’s been a long one. To do what he’s done is pretty historic, I think.”

A dominating, young left-hander with a deceptively cool, playing-catch-in-the-backyard delivery, Bumgarner added to his lore on Sunday by dominating the Royals with his freakish command of all his pitches. For the Royals’ hitters, he was an unsolvable puzzle, even better than he was in Game 1, when he allowed one run in seven innings.

His fastball darts out of his hand, complemented by his slow curve and especially his cut fastball, which is his signature pitch.

“It just seems like a constant battle every time we face him,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said.

Because of Bumgarner’s effort, the Giants are on the verge of winning their third World Series title in five years. But in order to do so, they must win a game in Kansas City, where the Series shifts for Game 6 on Tuesday. The Royals can take heart because, at least on Tuesday, they won’t have to face Bumgarner. But he might be available in relief if there is a Game 7.

“We’ve got to walk a tightrope now without a net,” Royals Manager Ned Yost said. “But our guys aren’t afraid. We fall off and we’re dead. But if we win Tuesday, nobody’s got a net.”

Even if Bumgarner doesn’t pitch again, and the Royals win the World Series, he will still be considered for M.V.P., so impressive were his first two games. The complete-game shutout was the first in the World Series since Josh Beckett’s five-hit gem against the Yankees in 2003, and Bumgarner allowed just one batter to reach second base. It was as if he and Buster Posey, the catcher, were having a nice game of catch, with some Royals hitters trying in vain to break it up.

“I felt great all night,” Bumgarner said. “Really, this time of year, it’s not too hard to go out there and feel good.”

Omar Infante’s one-out double in the fifth was the only extra-base hit, but Bumgarner got right back on track by striking out Jarrod Dyson and Shields, the last two hitters in the lineup.

The way Bumgarner was pitching, even the top of the order had considerable difficulty timing his fastball, his slow curve and his best pitch, the cut fastball, all of which come out of his hand as if he were throwing warm-up pitches in the bullpen on a day off.

“He really has his arm motion, and basically his whole motion is effortless, so the ball really explodes out of his hand,” Hosmer said.

With the Giants leading, 2-0, after Bumgarner got out of the eighth with no trouble, Bochy had Santiago Casilla warming up for the ninth inning. But the Giants rallied with three more runs, two of which came home on Juan Perez’s double.

Perez was a good friend of Oscar Taveras, the Cardinals outfielder who died earlier in the day in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Perez, who played with Taveras in the Dominican winter league, said he heard about it from a technician at the stadium before the game, went back to the clubhouse to check, and then took some time to absorb the sad news.

“It took me probably three innings to get over it,” he said.

But with the help of his teammate Joaquin Arias, who told him to stay strong, he decided to play, and made an important catch and had a big hit, and moved to third on the throw home.

“When I hit the ball and I went to third, I looked at the sky and I was thinking about it, too, at that time.”

Perez’s big hit made Bochy decide to stay with Bumgarner for the ninth inning. and he secured the shutout by getting Hosmer to ground out on his 117th pitch in a 1-2-3 ninth inning with the M.V.P. chants filling his ears.

“That was pretty neat to hear,” he said.

He pitched much of the game with a lead, but for most of it the potential tying run was on deck.

In the fourth, with Bumgarner still moving in what seemed like effortless motion through the Royals’ lineup, the Giants scored their second run. It started with Pablo Sandoval, one of the stars of Game 4, reaching on a single to left field.

Sandoval had fallen ill with a stomach bug before Game 4, but he recovered to have the biggest hit of that game, a tiebreaking two-run hit. There was some concern that he had caught an illness that was circulating through the Giants’ clubhouse. Tim Lincecum and Michael Morse were also briefly ill.

Another ailment is afflicting the Royals. It goes by the name Madison Bumgarner, and it comes around every other October.