Giants Clobber Royals in Series Opener

Madison Bumgarner was on top of his game, James Shields was not, and the San Francisco Giants cruised to an easy victory over the Royals in Game 1 of the "wild card" World Series in Kansas City.

Bumgarner was superb as the Giants earned a 7-1 victory, holding the Royals to a run and three hits with five strikeouts in seven innings. The Giants ace was working on a two-hit shutout until Salvador Perez homered with two out in the bottom of the seventh. Before the blast, the Giants already had forged a 7-0 lead.

San Francisco got all the runs it needed during the first inning off Shields as Pablo Sandoval hit an RBI double before scoring on Hunter Pence's two-run homer. Pence was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

The Giants added two runs in the fourth before Joe Panik laced an RBI triple off Danny Duffy and came home on Sandoval's run-scoring single in the seventh.

Gregor Blanco padded the Giants' 10-hit attack by going 1-for-3 with a bases-loaded walk and two runs scored.

It was a short evening for Shields, who was tagged for five runs and seven hits in three-plus innings. Although his nickname is "Big Game James," Shields is 3-5 with a 5.74 ERA in 53 1/3 innings over 10 career postseason starts.