Bumgarner Stymies Royals, Giants Take The Lead

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Madison Bumgarner was fantastic in Game 1 of the World Series last Tuesday. He was even better Sunday night as the San Francisco Giants took a three-games-to-two lead over Kansas City in the Fall Classic.

Bumgarner tossed the first World Series shutout in 11 years, allowing four hits while striking out eight in the Giants' 5-0 shutout of the Royals. No Giants pitcher had tossed a shutout in a World Series game since Jack Sanford in 1962. Florida's Josh Beckett was the last pitcher to throw one, beating the Yankees to win the 2003 World Series.

Bumgarner now has the inside track on the series MVP after allowing just one run and seven hits over 16 innings in his two starts. He scattered three hits in seven innings of the Giants' series-opening win against the Royals.

Bumgarner is 4-0 in four career World Series starts, allowing one run in 31 innings for a microscopic 0.29 ERA.

Brandon Crawford had two hits and three RBIs to lead the Giants' offense. He drove in the first two runs with a second-inning grounder and an RBI single in the fourth. It remained 2-0 until the eighth, when pinch-hitter Juan Perez hit a two-run double and scored on Crawford's single.

Losing pitcher James Shields allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings. Shields is 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in the series.

The loss does come with a silver lining for the Royals. The only other time they were shut out in a World Series game was 1985, when John Tudor helped the Cardinals take a three-games-to-one lead. Kansas City came back to win the last three games and their only championship

The Giants can clinch their third World Series title in five years as early as Tuesday in Kansas City. Jake Peavy will take the mound for San Francisco against Yordano Ventura.