KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Carlton Fisk, Joe Carter, and Kirk Gibson earned their place with a swing of a bat. The great Willie Mays made a catch with his back to the plate and the game on the line. Those were flashes of brilliance across the October sky.
For Madison Bumgarner, his imprint on World Series history was more of a relentless tide coming in, a performance with time to savor. Each pitch underlined his determination to stop the Kansas City Royals then and there.
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It wasn't perfection, but it was everything the San Francisco Giants needed.
Two days after he threw a shutout, Bumgarner pitched five scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 on Wednesday night as the Giants beat the Royals, 3-2, for their third title in five years.
'Bumgarner's a great starting pitcher. We'll see what kind of reliever he is,' Kansas City manager Ned Yost said before the game.
They sure did. Bumgarner allowed a single to the first batter he faced in the fifth inning then retired 14 in a row before Alex Gordon singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
The ball skipped past center fielder Gregor Blanco and rolled to the wall. Gordon raced to third base and the crowd of 40,535 became frenzied.
If Bumgarner's heartbeat sped up, it wasn't evident. He got Salvador Perez to foul out and collapsed in the arms of catcher Buster Posey.
After throwing 117 pitches on Sunday, Bumgarner tossed 68 more on Wednesday. Though he entered the game with a lead, he was awarded the win.
Bumgarner won three games in the Series, allowing one run on nine hits over 21 innings with one walk and 17 strikeouts. He was, of course, named Most Valuable Player.
Bumgarner's 52 innings were a record for a single postseason, surpassing the 48 Curt Schilling threw for Arizona in 2001.
The Giants were the first team since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates to win Game 7 on the road. The Giants have won 10 consecutive postseason series and eight titles in franchise history.
San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval was 3 for 3 with two runs. His 26 hits were a postseason record and Sandoval was 12 of 28 (.429) in the World Series. Sandoval caught the final out in front of the San Francisco dugout and fell on is back in joy.
Hunter Pence was 2 for 4 with a run. He was 12 for 27 in the Series (.444) with five RBIs and seven runs.
The respective starting pitchers weren't around for very long.
Jeremy Guthrie had a perfect first inning for the Royals then allowed two runs in the second.
Sandoval, whose stellar postseason should help bring him free agent riches, was hit by a pitch. Singles by Pence and Brandon Belt loaded the bases.
Sacrifice flies by Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford scored two runs.
Tim Hudson did not hold the lead for long. Billy Butler singled to start the second inning then scored from first on a double to the gap in right field by Gordon.
Hudson then hit Perez in the left leg with a fastball. There was a slight delay but Perez stayed in the game. When Mike Moustakas flied out to left field, Gordon took third base. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante.
When Alcides Escobar singled, Hudson was pulled after 28 pitches.
Sandoval and Pence singled off Guthrie to start the fourth inning. Sandoval took third on a fly ball by Belt and Guthrie was done after 49 pitches.
Facing Kelvin Herrera, Morse singled to right field to score Sandoval.
Jeremy Affeldt, who started his career with the Royals, gave the Giants 2 scoreless innings. He appeared in 11 postseason games and did not allow a run over 11 innings.
Affeldt also has made 22 consecutive scoreless postseason appearances, one shy of tying the record held by Mariano Rivera.
Bumgarner started the fifth inning and allowed a single by Infante. With the crowd howling, Escobar successfully bunted Infante into scoring position.
Yost let lefthanded-hitting Nori Aoki bat and he sliced a line drive to left field. Juan Perez, starting for the second time in the series, was perfectly positioned and made a running catch.
Lorenzo Cain then struck out swinging at a fastball and Bumgarner walked off the mound as the crowd sat back down.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.
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