KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Madison Bumgarner pitched five innings of near-perfect relief and the San Francisco Giants held off the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Wednesday night in Game 7 of the World Series for their third championship in five seasons.

With both starters chased early, this became a matchup of bullpens. And no one stood taller than the 6-foot-5 Bumgarner, who added to his postseason legacy with a third victory this Series.

After Gregor Blanco misplayed Alex Gordon’s drive for a single and two-base error, Bumgarner got Salvador Perez to pop foul to third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the final out.

The Giants ended a Series streak that had seen home teams win the last nine Game 7s. San Francisco took this pairing of wild-card teams after earning titles in 2012 and 2010.

Pitching on two days’ rest after his shutout in Game 5, Bumgarner entered in the fifth with a 3-2 lead. After giving up a leadoff single to Omar Infante, he shut down the Royals.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain looped a two-run single and Eric Hosmer chopped a two-run double over shortstop in a seven-run second inning as the Kansas City Royals battered the San Francisco Giants 10-0 Tuesday night to force a decisive Game 7 in the World Series.

Pitching with the initials of late St. Louis outfielder Oscar Taveras on his cap, 23-year-old rookie Yordano Ventura allowed three hits over seven innings for his first Series win.

Jeremy Guthrie starts Wednesday night for Kansas City and Tim Hudson for San Francisco in a rematch of Game 3, won by Kansas City 3-2. The 39-year-old Hudson will become the oldest Game 7 starter in Series history.

Lurking is Madison Bumgarner, ready to pitch in relief after stifling the Royals on a total of one run in winning Games 1 and 5.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 2-foot-tall image of deer in multicolored neon with a bulls-eye on its tail is affixed to a wall in the Kansas City Royals locker room. It hangs between the stalls of Aaron Crow and Tim Collins, and has a “W” underneath a crown.

Pitcher James Shields ordered it custom made, and after wins veterans select a “King of the Game” to flip the switch that lights up the so-called “Texas Heart Shot” while a smoke machine perched atop a refrigerator fills the room with a fog more befitting a night club than a clubhouse.

Trailing 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, the Royals hope to light up that sign two more times this week. But if they do come back to win their first title in 29 years, it’s unlikely there will be time for their usual clubhouse ceremony given the champagne-fueled chaos.

“I doubt it. It’s going to be crazy around here if we win both games,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said Monday.

Kansas City turns to a 23-year-old rookie to save its season, but not just any 23-year-old rookie: the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in the major leagues.

Yordano Ventura gets the ball Tuesday night with the Royals in the same position they were in in 1985 when they sent Charlie Leibrandt to the mound against St. Louis. Kansas City won 2-1 that night on pinch-hitter Dane Iorg’s two-run single in the ninth after a blown call by first base umpire Don Denkinger, and the Royals went on to blow out the Cardinals 11-0 a day later behind Bret Saberhagen for their only title.

In the 41 previous instances the World Series was 2-2 in the best-of-seven format, the Game 5 winner has taken the title 27 times. But eight of the last 10 teams to come home trailing 3-2 swept Games 6 and 7.

“We have a lot of confidence in Ventura. We have confidence that we will win every time he takes the mound,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We know we can do it. We’re a confident group. But we can’t do anything without winning Game 6. We’re excited to get back home, where we feed off the fans and that energy.”

Kansas City hopes to light up Jake Peavy along with the deer in a rematch of Game 2 starters.

Ventura, whose fastball averaged 98 mph this season, didn’t get a decision in the second game, allowing two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings before Royals manager Ned Yost went to his hard-throwing HDH relief trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland in the 7-2 victory.

“His confidence is just staggering,” Yost said. “You walk in that clubhouse, and he looks you square in the eye with that glint that says: ‘I’m ready for this.'”

The 33-year-old Peavy took the loss, giving up four runs and six hits in five innings-plus. He is seeking his first World Series win — he didn’t get a decision for Boston in Game 3 last year — and is well aware he could get the victory in the clincher.

“I can’t imagine anything being any sweeter than that,” he said. “This is the start that you play your whole career wanting.”

This is the first World Series in which four of the first five games were decided by five runs or more. The second all-wild card World Series has followed the pattern of the first in 2002. The Giants won the opener on the road, lost the next two games and won two in a row to take a 3-2 lead. San Francisco opened a 5-0 lead in Game 6 at Anaheim but lost 6-5, and the Angels won Game 7 the following night.

Yost hopes history repeats and Ventura is energized by the Kauffman Stadium crowd.

“Trust me, if we’re in this position, I would much rather be here than there with our fans. I think home-field advantage is huge,” he said after the team arrived back home at about 4:30 a.m. “It’s going to be a lot funner going into Game 6 here than it would be in San Francisco, that’s for sure.”

The Giants spent the night at home, chartered with player families on the flight and reached Kansas City about 12½ hour later. With the shift to the AL ballpark, designated hitters return: Billy Butler for the Royals and Michael Morse for the Giants.

San Francisco’s Tim Hudson and Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie would be the likely Game 7 starters if the Series is extended to Wednesday. And lurking is Madison Bumgarner, who pitched a four-hit shutout to win Game 5 on Sunday. Bumgarner, 4-0 in Series play with a record-low 0.29 ERA, could come out of the bullpen on two days’ rest for what would be his first relief appearance since throwing two scoreless innings in Game 6 of the 2010 NL Championship Series.

He wouldn’t estimate how long he could go.

“I’m not a big pitch-count guy,” he said. “So as long as you keep getting outs and you feel good, you should stay out there.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Madison Bumgarner barely broke a smile walking around the San Francisco Giants’ clubhouse late Sunday night following a brilliant pitching performance that has his team one win from another World Series title.

After the way this October has played out, who can blame him?

The Giants will try to close out the Royals and claim their third championship in five years Tuesday night when this wild-card series shifts back to baseball’s most unlikely postseason destination: Kansas City.

“We know it’s not over until you get that fourth game. These guys aren’t going to change,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, whose club leads the best-of-seven series 3-2.

Perhaps it’s only fitting this Fall Classic ends at Kauffman Stadium, a place hosting playoff baseball for the first time in 29 years. The Royals started this pulsating postseason with a 9-8 comeback win in 12 innings over Oakland in the AL wild-card game, which began on the last day of September and ended near midnight.

That captivating night in Kansas City set the stage for a month to remember: tight games and dramatic finishes, favorites falling and underdogs overachieving, stars slipping and new ones shining.

What happens next is anybody’s guess. After all, the last time Game 6 of the Fall Classic came to Kansas City, one of the most surreal scenes in baseball history unfolded: first base umpire Don Denkinger’s botched call serving as the signature moment of the 1985 World Series won by the Royals over St. Louis.

“We know we can do it,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We’re a confident group. But we can’t do anything without winning Game 6. We’re excited to get back home where we feed off the fans and that energy.”

Jake Peavy starts for San Francisco and Yordano Ventura goes for the Royals — a surprising matchup at this stage of October in most years, just not this one.

The majors’ most notable names during the regular season — Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and Angels slugger Mike Trout — flamed out fast in the Division Series. A trio of Cy Young winners didn’t do enough for Detroit. Injuries slowed down former triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera and Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright.

Even playoff-proven starter Jon Lester looked lost under October’s bright lights for the one-and-done Athletics, and up-and-coming starter Stephen Strasburg showed he still has to polish his postseason poise for the Nationals.

Instead, these playoffs bred a new batch of baseball darlings: Lorenzo Cain and the running Royals, starter-turned-reliever Yusmeiro Petit and a pair of blazing bullpens that no longer overlooked in the World Series.

Of course, no star has burned brighter than a 25-year-old lefty from North Carolina teammates call “MadBum.”

Bumgarner’s winning performances in Game 1 and Game 5 — not to mention in every previous round of the playoffs — has put San Francisco one win away from for another parade down Market Street, something Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and generations of Giants fans had dreamed of for so long.

Now it’s becoming an every-other-year tradition.

“It’s not going to be easy at all,” Giants first baseman Brandon Belt said. “It matters that we know that, and I think everybody on this team knows that. We’re going to go out there and we’re not going to let up. We can’t, because if we do they’re going to take advantage of it.”

Royals rookie Brandon Finnegan might understand the topsy-turvy nature of these playoffs better than anyone.

Only four months after he pitched in the College World Series, the 21-year-old reliever got two key outs in the seventh inning to help Kansas City win Game 3. A night later, Finnegan failed to bridge the gap to the back end of the bullpen, allowing five runs in Kansas City’s 11-4 loss to San Francisco.

“Baseball can pick you up quickly,” Finnegan said, “and hit you in the gut quickly.”

Sometimes longer and harder than others.

The Giants’ latest improbable postseason run was propelled by the longest game in playoff history, a 2-1 win in 18 innings over the Nationals in Game 2 of the NL Division Series. Travis Ishikawa, a journeyman and first baseman converted to a left fielder in San Francisco, hit a three-run shot off St. Louis’ Michael Wacha in the Game 5 clincher of the NL Championship Series.

It was the first homer to send the Giants to the World Series since perhaps the most famous drive in baseball history — Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in a 1951 playoff against the Dodgers.

The showings in this fall will surely earn some a big payday come winter. Royals right-hander James Shields and San Francisco’s slugging third baseman Pablo Sandoval are among those headed for free agency.

For now those transactions are on hold. One, maybe two, of the season’s biggest games await.

“The place is going to be absolutely crazy,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We feel good about our matchups. We’ve got to walk the tightrope now without a net, but our guys aren’t afraid of walking the tightrope without a net. We fall off and we’re dead. But we win Tuesday, nobody’s got a net. It’s going to be winner-take-all.”