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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before MadBum's triumphant finishing number in the World Series, there was Jeremy Affeldt's effective warm-up performance that put the San Francisco Giants in a position to win another championship.
When starting pitcher Tim Hudson couldn't get the Giants all of the way through the second inning of Game 7 on Wednesday night, manager Bruce Bochy called on Affeldt to keep the Kansas City Royals off the scoreboard until Bumgarner could enter and possibly finish. Affeldt responded with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball, a beautiful bridge to Bumgarner, who took over in the fifth and didn't leave Kauffman Stadium without the Series MVP award and a new pickup truck.
Affeldt did some heavy lifting, too, as the middle man, getting two ground balls for double plays that stymied the Royals offense, which had scored twice in the second inning against Hudson. One of the double plays, turned by Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, was one of the key plays of Game 7.
Affeldt said he figured to be ready for anything considering it was the deciding game, but the quickness of his appearance against the Royals caught him a little by surprise.
"I don’t remember the last time I warmed up in the second inning let alone pitched in it," Affeldt said.
Affeldt has averaged just under one inning per appearance as a reliever, though he did two-inning stints three times during the regular season, plus another two-inning stint in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. He said he was game for another inning against the Royals, but Bochy went with Bumgarner instead.
Affeldt also pitched with a knee brace in Game 7, something Bochy required because of the planned length of his outing. Affeldt began the season recovering from a right knee sprain, and sometimes he wears a brace when he pitches as a precaution.*
The entire experience left Affeldt with a cracking voice and glistening eyes, considering his major league career began with the Royals in 2002. The rest of Affeldt's career has worked out much better than the K.C. part, though he returns to Kauffman Stadium with no hard feelings about not fully succeeding with the Royals.
The best part of the World Series experience for Affeldt is winning another ring he can give to one of his sons. Two of them have a ring from the 2010 and 2012 seasons.
"I started with the Royals and it was a tough time for me," Affeldt said. "So to come back here and feel this… all three of my boys have championship rings to wear now. It means a lot to me."
The official scorer originally gave Bumgarner the victory because he pitched five innings — he also happened to finish, and was in the game when it became official — but that decision was reversed afterward. The rules state that, because Affeldt pitched effectively and was the Giants pitcher when they took the lead on Mike Morse's RBI single in the fourth, that he should get the decision.
Bumgarner gets a save. Affeldt gets the win. It was not important to him that he did.
“He deserves it," Affeldt said of Bumgarner. "In that situation, he had to pitch so long into the game. He sealed it up. The longer you pitch into that game, and the less outs there are, the more the pressure increased to make pitches. So he deserves it."
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
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