For the second time this World Series, the Kansas City Royals’ bats awoke from a Madison Bumgarner-induced slumber in impressive fashion.
Revitalized by a return home to Kauffman Stadium, Ned Yost’s squad scored seven runs in the second inning and cruised to a 10-0 win over the San Francisco Giants, forcing a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night.
As the Royals have proved all season, it doesn’t take immense power to produce this kind of offensive outburst. They hit just one solo home run in the seventh but relentlessly bombarded San Francisco with six doubles and a total of 15 hits, joining the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series record book by the third inning:
That meant rookie Yordano Ventura had the rare experience of pitching in a do-or-die game with essentially no pressure. Spotted the early seven-run advantage, the 23-year-old tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing just three hits.
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan and Ace of MLB Stats put the excellent performance into historical perspective:
The Royals, who entered Game 6 scoreless in their previous 15 innings, didn’t take long to rediscover their form at the plate. After threatening in the first, they knocked around veteran starter Jake Peavy and Game 4 hero Yusmeiro Petit for eight hits and three doubles in the second.
Eleven players ultimately came to the plate, and seven crossed it. MLB’s Twitter feed provided a glimpse of the seemingly endless onslaught of base knocks:
Peavy’s night was done after just 1.1 innings. He gave up six hits, one walk and five earned runs, putting an end to a forgettable postseason and World Series for him.
It puts the former Cy Young winner in embarrassing company, per ESPN’s Buster Olney:
Of course, the painfully ineffective outing was nothing new for Giants starters not named Madison this series. The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Henry Schulman highlighted just how much Bruce Bochy has missed Matt Cain:
The night wouldn’t be complete without a home run allowed by Hunter Strickland. Mike Moustakas took the struggling reliever deep in the bottom of the seventh, pushing the Royals’ lead to 10-0.
Strickland pitched seven scoreless innings in the regular season, but the rookie has absolutely crumbled in October. He has now surrendered six home runs in the postseason, including two in the World Series, leading to these shameful stats from Sports Illustrated‘s Joe Sheehan and Baseball Prospectus‘ Sam Miller:
Fortunately for the Giants, the slate is wiped clean in Game 7. Unfortunately, history hasn’t been kind to teams in their position, per MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez and Sportsnet radio host Tim Micallef:
The Royals will turn to Jeremy Guthrie in an attempt to continue that trend, while Bochy will hand the ball to Tim Hudson, with Bumgarner a serious early option out of the bullpen should things even slightly go awry.
Whether it’s ultimately Kansas City ending a 29-year drought or San Francisco making it three titles in five years, we are now less than 24 hours away from one of the greatest things in sports: a Game 7 to determine the champion.
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