World Series 2014: Royals Crush Giants and Force Game 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Game 7. It is among the most alluring events in all of sports, a grand stage where reputations are made and history is carved from a clash between two teams seeking their sport’s ultimate prize.

It is the dream of perhaps every baseball, basketball and hockey player to play well and win a Game 7, producing a memory that will be cherished for a lifetime. It is the goal of every league to put its sport on display in one compelling night, and it is the hope of fans to withstand the nerve-racking pressure and see their favorite team raise a trophy.

It will happen again on Wednesday because this World Series will go to Game 7. The Kansas City Royals saw to that when they routed the San Francisco Giants, 10-0, on Tuesday night in the largest margin of victory in a World Series shutout since 1985, when the Royals beat the Cardinals, 11-0 — in Game 7.

 “When I was 10 years old hitting rocks in the back yard trying to hit it over the fence for a home run,” Royals Manager Ned Yost said, “I never one time thought, ‘Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth, Game 5 of the World Series.’ ” The childhood fantasy, of course, was always about Game 7.

The 36th decisive Game 7 in the history of the World Series will take place Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, with Jeremy Guthrie of the Royals scheduled to start against Tim Hudson of the Giants. The Giants will also have their ace, Madison Bumgarner, who has two wins in this Series, including a shutout on Sunday, available to pitch out of the bullpen.

Still, the odds are not on the Giants’ side, for history favors the home team in Game 7. Beginning with the 1982 World Series in St. Louis, home teams are 9-0 in the Game 7s. The last road team to win a Game 7 was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat the Orioles at the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

Back then, Kent Tekulve was a wiry, spectacled submarining pitcher who was the last visiting pitcher to throw the final pitch of a World Series Game 7 win. He also threw the ceremonial first pitch when the Giants beat the Pirates in the National League wild-card game in Pittsburgh at the beginning of this postseason.

In 1985 the Royals were facing elimination in Game 6, but scored twice in the ninth inning to win, 2-1, and then took Game 7 in a blowout. In Game 6 of the 2011 Series, the Texas Rangers were within inches of catching the final out for a victory, but Nelson Cruz couldn’t make the play and the Cardinals won that game and cruised to a win in Game 7.

 “This is what you work for starting in spring training,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “If you told me we would be playing in Game 7 of the World Series, I think we’d all be doing cartwheels.”

The Giants are still one win away from taking their third title in the last five years. The Royals, who were two games under .500 on July 21 and trailed the Oakland Athletics by four runs with six outs to play in the American League wild-card game, are now 27 outs away from their second World Series championship.

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Yost said that after the Giants won Game 4 and had Bumgarner on the mound for Game 5, he felt the team that won Game 6 would win the World Series, and on Monday a feeling of supreme confidence washed over him.

“I’ve never been so convicted about a game in my life,” he said. “Seriously. I’ve never felt more strongly about us wining a ball game in my life than I did yesterday on this game. I don’t know why. It’s just the confidence I have in these guys.”

Yost also noted how much the Royals feed of the frenzy of their fans, who were in full voice Tuesday with deafening cheers that were answered in an explosive second inning. The Royals jumped on Giants starter Jake Peavy, scoring seven runs in the inning. Peavy was removed after recording only four outs, and his career postseason record fell to 1-5 with a 7.98 earned run average.

“It was just a frustrating inning,” Peavy said.

The Royals sent 11 men to the plate in that inning, and eight recorded hits. The big ones included a two-run single by Lorenzo Cain, who flared a ball into shallow center field off relief pitcher Yusmeiro Petit.

Eric Hosmer followed with a chopper over the drawn-in infield, and Billy Butler, the designated hitter who did not start any of the three games in San Francisco, added a run-scoring double.

Yordano Ventura, the Royals’ rookie starter, honored the memory of St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, who died in a car accident Sunday in the Dominican Republic, by writing “RIP O.T.” on his cap.

“This game was dedicated to Oscar Taveras, my good friend,” Ventura said through an interpreter. “It was a little emotional for us.”

Ventura pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits. But he walked the bases loaded with one out in the third to add a tiny bit of suspense. Then he got Buster Posey, who is without an extra-base hit in the postseason, to hit into a double play to end the inning as the fans erupted again.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mike Moustakas hit a home run to add to the festive air at Kauffman Stadium, while the Giants lamented a lost opportunity to end the Series in six games. No road team has won a Game 6 since the Florida Marlins beat the Yankees in Game 6 to clinch the 2003 World Series, and for only the second time since then, a World Series has produced a Game 7, the sport’s ultimate prize.

What would be the best way to explain the drama and excitement of it all?

“Game 7 is Game 7,” Hosmer said. “It doesn’t need any more explanation than that.”