SAN FRANCISCO -- Ask Madison Bumgarner to name the most important pitch he's ever thrown, and he responds in the time it takes one of his home runs to rocket into the bleachers.
"Well, it has to be the one to Perez," Bumgarner said. "Last pitch of Game 7."What other answer could there be? Bumgarner clomped out of the bullpen in the deciding game of the 2014 World Series and finished the cattle drive all by his lonesome. He pitched the last five innings on a day of rest, and that final fastball jammed Royals catcher Salvador Perez.When third baseman Pablo Sandoval caught Perez's foul pop, and then plopped for a celebratory snow angel in the grass, it clinched more than the Giants' third title…
