World Series 2014: Recapping Most Memorable Moments from Giants vs. Royals Clash

Instead of the Kansas City Royals ending 29 years of suffering, the San Francisco Giants captured their third World Series title in five years, winning a closely contested Game 7 to continue their trend of winning in even years.

Hunter Pence put it best when he said: "Game 7 of the World Series is a gift for everyone," per MLB.com's Chris Haft. It was the perfect present to wrap up an invigorating postseason, and the final game did not disappoint.

The Giants topped the Royals in a 3-2 thriller guided by stellar work out of the bullpen, particularly playoff hero Madison Bumgarner.

First 2010. Then 2012. Now 2014. Hardly the most imposing dynasty, the Giants have glistened when it mattered most, claiming three championships during years where they averaged 91 victories per season.

Yet they ran the October gauntlet to climb the MLB ladder once again. Let's relive one of the wildest World Series in recent memory.

Trading Blowouts

Elsa/Getty Images

The Giants and Royals scratched their way to the World Series, each edging out a handful of close games before the Fall Classic. Yet they went a combined 16-2, with both losses placed on the Giants' tab.

During a drastically different World Series, they went the full seven games despite most of them ending in lopsided fashion. Only Games 3 and 7—two 3-2 triumphs in San Francisco's favor—were decided by fewer than five runs. 

Game	Winner	Score	Loser
1	Giants	7-1	Royals
2	Royals	7-2	Giants
3	Royals	3-2	Giants
4	Giants	11-4	Royals
5	Giants	5-0	Royals
6	Royals	10-0	Giants
7	Giants	3-2	Royals

San Francisco quickly planted its imprint on Game 1, tallying three first-inning runs during a decisive 7-1 win. Just when everyone worried that Kansas City's magic finally wore thin, the pesky AL champions scored seven runs of their own in Game 2.

So the tide switched back to Kansas City, right? Wrong. After dropping Game 3 in the low-scoring pitching battle onlookers expected from this entire series, the Giants scored 10 unanswered runs during an 11-4 victory, evening the series at 2-2 with a Game 4 win. Before the bullpen could turn over a lead to Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, the other guys relinquished eight runs.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Bruce Bochy sent Jake Peavy out for one inning too many in Game 2, as the new acquisition imploded during a disastrous sixth inning. While he gave Peavy a much quicker hook in Game 6, starting him altogether created a giant hole.

Per FOX Sports, that 10-0 onslaught represented the most one-sided World Series shutout since the Royals last made the championship 29 years ago.

After plotting seven runs below the second-inning column, both teams had their sights set on Game 7 with seven frames to go on Tuesday night.

A Relieving Game 7

Elsa/Getty Images

Savvy veterans is the nice way to describe Game 7's starting pitchers. With everything on the line, each team turned to a soft-tossing veteran, so it didn't surprise anyone to see this game boil down to the bullpens.

Jeremy Guthrie, he of the career 4.23 ERA and 5.36 strikeouts-per-nine ratio, was handed the ball with the largest stakes imaginable. On the other end, 39-year-old Tim Hudson and his 5.70 K/9 rate took the hill.

Promptly after Guthrie surrendered a pair of runs during inning No. 2, Tim Hudson gave them right back in the bottom half of the frame. As Baseball Reference's Ace of MLB Stats noted, Hudson's quick hook represented the briefest Game 7 start in 54 years.

That allowed both sides to press the reset button with their relievers, and the pressure of a Game 7 compelled both skippers to turn to their studs. For Ned Yost, that meant giving Herrera the ball during the fourth, but not until Guthrie saddled him with two baserunners, one of which became the winning run. 

Criticized in the past for abiding by antiquated bullpen practices by handcuffing Herrera to the seventh, Davis to the eighth and Holland to the ninth, Yost wasn't messing around in a winner-take-all contest. Unfortunately for the packed crowd at Kauffman Stadium, he still waited a tad too long.

Bruce Bochy wasn't taking any chances, either, not letting Hudson finish the second frame. Unsung hero Jeremy Affeldt calmed the ruckus with 2.1 shutout innings, yielding just one baserunner. The lefty hasn't received much fanfare, but he's enjoyed outstanding postseason success, as noted by MLB.com.

Then, two days removed from tossing a complete game, Madison Bumgarner saved the day again, firing five scoreless innings from the pen on 68 pitches. Previously expected to make no more than a two- or three-inning cameo, the ace wasn't going anywhere.

Following that magnificent effort, there's no doubt who deserved World Series MVP honors. While nobody relishes in watching the feisty underdog falter, Bumgarner's October wizardry on the mound makes up for him ruining Kansas City's storybook ending.

Bow Down to Bumgarner

Elsa/Getty Images

This was Bumgarner's third World Series trip in five years, but he shared the spotlight with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain during the prior stints. Nobody can dispute his ace status this time around, as his dominant pitching carried the Giants through the entire slate.

The 25-year-old allowed everyone to rest easy for Games 1 and 5, knowing the Giants had those matchups in the bag. Through 16 innings, he surrendered just one run, striking out 13 batters and walking one in the process.

Salvador Perez hit a meaningless solo home run with Game 1 already out of hand, marking the lefty's only postseason run allowed. In comparison, every San Francisco starter not named Bumgarner struggled mightily, as illustrated by ESPN Stats & Info during his last outing.

If it ended there, that still would have been incredible. Instead, he shut the door one more time, this time in an unaccustomed relief role. The bullpen appearance bumped him up to 50.2 postseason innings pitched this year, a new playoff record. 

As for his World Series prowess through three tries, the numbers speak for themselves. Ace of MLB Stats highlighted the stats that will etch Bumgarner into a Fall Classic legend.

After the game, Mike Morse and Buster Posey expressed their appreciations for Bumgarner's historical performance, as relayed by FOX Sports: MLB's Twitter page.

While calling the game for FOX, Tom Verducci marveled at the rarity of a modern-day starter enduring such an aggressive workload, via Awful Announcing.

Don't count on it. Combining the regular season and playoffs, Bumgarner hurled 270 innings. For an example of a pitcher eroding under heavy usage, he can look over to Lincecum, a former stud relegated to mop-up duty this postseason.

Another scary comparison, Justin Verlander threw 266.2 innings in 2012 before falling to the Giants on the grand stage, and the Cy Young winner hasn't been the same since. After showing hints of deterioration in 2013, he unraveled with a 4.54 ERA during the 2014 season. Seemingly indestructible two years ago, the strenuous nature of pitching finally wore him down.

Bumgarner may pay a price later, but he's already a three-time champion who just locked down a signature moment fans will remember decades down the road.