Giants 2 - 7 Royals
Final
  for this game

Giants try to take commanding World Series lead over Royals

Oct 22, 2014 - 3:07 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Jake Peavy can give the San Francisco Giants a commanding lead in the World Series on Wednesday when he takes the ball for Game 2 against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

It's been a tale of two seasons for Peavy, who was just 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA and 20 home runs allowed in 20 starts for Boston before he was traded to the Giants.

Since he's been in San Francisco, though, reunited with former manager Bruce Bochy, Peavy has resembled the pitcher who won an NL Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres in 2007.

Peavy pitched to a 2.17 ERA and won six of his 12 starts with the Giants after the late-July deal. He's also carried that into the postseason, surrendering just two earned runs in 9 2/3 innings in two starts.

The 33-year-old hurler will try to follow another marvelous outing from Madison Bumgarner in Game 1 on Tuesday.

Bumgarner continued to cement his status as the best postseason pitcher in baseball on Tuesday in Game 1, as he gave up one run over seven innings and the Giants rolled past Kansas City, 7-1.

Hunter Pence provided the offense with a two-run home run and Pablo Sandoval reached base safely for the 24th straight postseason game with an RBI double in the first inning.

San Francisco has now won seven straight World Series games.

The winner of Game 1 has gone on to win 10 of the last 11 World Series and 15 of the past 17, with 2002 (San Francisco defeating Anaheim) and 2009 (Philadelphia defeating New York) being the lone exceptions.

However, the last five road teams to win Game 1 have lost Game 2.

Bumgarner's only mistake was a two-out home run to Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the seventh inning, which ended his MLB-record scoreless innings streak on the road at 32 2/3 frames.

"It was just about going out and making pitches and executing," Bumgarner said. "I know that's a boring answer, but for me, that's all it is, is I'm just trying to make pitches and take all that other stuff and push it aside and just concentrate on moving the ball around, getting ahead, and getting outs and getting us back in the dugout."

The Royals saw their postseason winning streak come to an end at 11 games, as they fell for the first time in nine tries in these playoffs.

"We didn't expect to come in here and sweep the San Francisco Giants," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We knew that this was a series that was going to go deep. We know how tough they are. They swung the bats really well."

The Royals, meanwhile, will turn to 23-year-old rookie Yordano Ventura, who has been battling some shoulder issues. He left his ALCS start versus the Orioles with tightness in his right shoulder after allowing four runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

After pitching to a 3.20 ERA during the season, Ventura has allowed seven runs in 13 innings this postseason.

Of course, Ventura almost ended the Royals' postseason chances when he served up a three-run home run in relief of Shields in Kansas City's wild card game. He bounced back with a marvelous ALDS effort against the Los Angeles Angels, though, before being roughed up by the O's.

"For me, another thing I focus on is to live day by day," Ventura said with Game 3 starter Jeremy Guthrie serving as his translator. "Really, what happened (against) Oakland, I had moved past that."

These teams actually met in the regular season, as the Royals completed a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium.






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