After a six-day layoff, postseason baseball was back at the forefront Tuesday night when the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals squared off in Game 1 of the World Series. The Giants sent their ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound to face the Royals ace James Shields. What was thought to be a pitcher’s duel between the staff leaders became a one-sided affair. Bumgarner was dominant once again while “Big Game” James continues to struggle in big games for the Royals this postseason. San Francisco silenced the home crowd in Kansas City with a 7-1 blowout in Game 1.

San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner went seven innings allowing only one run on three hits while striking out five batters. Bumgarner extended his road postseason scoreless streak record to 32 2/3 innings until Salvador Perez tacked him for a solo homerun in the seventh. Bumgarner also had a World Series scoreless streak of 21 innings before the homerun, second to the great Christy Mathewson. The accolades continue for the 25-year old as his World Series record is now 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA.

His counterpart, James Shields, continued his struggles in the 2014 postseason. Shields could not find his command and he continued to get behind hitters early in the count. Pablo Sandoval made him pay in the first inning with an RBI double giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. The Giants extended their lead quickly with a Hunter Pence 2-run homerun extending their lead to 3-0 after the first inning. Michael Morse tacked on another run in the fourth inning with an RBI single which led to Shields departure. Danny Duffy came in relief and added another run to Shields’ pitching line when he allowed a bases loaded walk, giving the Giants a 5-0 lead. James Shields final pitching line came out to three innings pitched five runs on seven hits, while only striking out one batter.

The Royals really had only one opportunity to score against Bumgarner and make a game it. In the third inning Omar Infante led off the inning, reaching base on a fielding error by shortstop Brandon Crawford. Mike Moustakas followed with a long at-bat that resulting in a double putting runner at second and third and nobody out. Bumgarner responded by striking out Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki, and after walking Lorenzo Cain forcing Eric Hosmer to ground out to second base. Give credit to Bumgarner, but Escobar and Aoki did not have great at-bats as they were too aggressive and swung at pitches out of the zone.

It is only the first game of the series, but 10 of the last 11 game one winners go on winning the World Series. The Royals' backs are against the wall and this is the first time they have lost in the postseason so we will see how this young team responds to failure in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Luckily for Kansas City, they are at home and they have the home crowd rallying behind them.