Giants rally to beat Royals, 11-4, tie World Series

The third baseman was throwing up before the game. The right fielder was leading a group hug. The manager, as stoic as stoic gets, took off his cap and slammed it to the ground when the game did not go his team’s way.

Those were your victors.

The most entertaining Saturday night show in this town: Game 4 of the World Series. The San Francisco Giants had just driven a stake through the heart of the Kansas City Royals, scoring 10 unanswered runs in an 11-4 romp, and the manager of the losing team could not contain his delight at how much gosh darn fun he had.

“I’ve never felt so good about getting my tail whooped in my life,” Ned Yost said.

This Series will go six games, and maybe seven. The Royals could have, and should have, pushed the Giants to the brink of extinction Saturday.

The Royals prosper by scratching out a few runs and entrusting the final innings to their three blessed relievers. If they lose the Series, the regrets will stem from this game, when they blew an early three-run lead, when they needed one more victory to force San Francisco into an elimination game and one more out to get to their bullpen relay stars.

“It’s a big deal,” Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt said. “If we can get a lead and not have to face those three guys, that’s a good thing.”

And then Affeldt smiled.

“Obviously,” he said.

The home team survived an incredibly ugly inning, the Royals scoring four times in the third, keyed by two infield singles and blown coverage of a play at first base — blown so badly that Manager Bruce Bochy threw his hat to the dugout floor.

“Buzzard luck,” Bochy said.

No match for Giants karma. San Francisco scored its first run without a hit. And consider these at-bats from the Giants’ No. 9 spot, on a night starter Ryan Vogelsong did not last long enough to bat: pinch-hit single from Matt Duffy, single from pitcher Yusmeiro Petit (a career .049 hitter), pinch-hit single from Joaquin Arias, pinch-hit walk from Michael Morse.

The stars? Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, a.k.a. Kung Fu Panda, shook off the virus that unsettled his stomach and had two big hits from the right side, driving in the winning runs. He batted .199 from the right side during the regular season. Right fielder Hunter Pence, the wild-eyed motivational speaker who doubles as the Giants’ scooter-riding leader of group hugs, doubled, singled twice, and drove in three runs.

And the Royals’ bullpen, which had given up nine runs in 11 postseason games, gave up eight in one game. Kansas City’s 4-1 lead was gone in the fifth inning.

Brandon Finnegan, who started this season at Texas Christian and went from the College World Series to this Series, might finally be showing fatigue. Finnegan, who made his season debut Feb. 14 against Jacksonville University, faced 10 batters and gave up five runs.

Finnegan was on the mound in the sixth inning, trying to get the Royals to Kelvin Herrera for the seventh, Wade Davis for the eighth and Greg Holland for the ninth. Herrera pitched two innings Friday, so he couldn’t go two Saturday.

It was 4-4 with two out in the sixth. The Giants had the bases loaded, but one more out, and the Royals would get to Herrera.

Finnegan is left-handed. Sandoval, a switch-hitter whom the Royals wanted batting against a left-hander, singled home two runs. Brandon Belt, a left-handed hitter, singled home one more.

The Giants led, 7-4, and poured it on from there.

“Oh, man,” Yost said, “somewhere inside of me I secretly hoped it would go seven games, for the excitement and thrill of it. Sure looks that way.”