Posey, Bumgarner recall memorable final out of 2014 World Series

SAN FRANCISCO — When the Kansas City Royals made a rare visit to Oracle Park last season, catcher Salvador Perez smiled as he was asked about his most memorable appearance against the Giants. Perez has a World Series ring, having been named the MVP in 2015 as the Royals made up for their previous year’s disappointment. 

But the previous October, Perez was on that big stage for the first time. He knows now that he wasn’t quite ready for it, and that two savvy veterans were all too eager to take advantage of a 24-year-old’s desire to get the game-tying hit in a Game 7. 

You don’t need to take his word for it, though. All you have to do is go back and watch how it happened. 

Buster Posey and Perez might both one day be in Cooperstown for their work in the crouch, but during that memorable battle, both men were standing. Perez was at the plate and Posey repeatedly got out of his catcher’s stance to give Madison Bumgarner a better target as they tried to elevate fastballs. 

During an exclusive interview that aired on Monday’s “Giants Talk” podcast, Posey recalled how he and Bumgarner were on the same page about how to end the game after Alex Gordon reached third base with two outs in the ninth and the Giants nursing a one-run lead. 

“The game plan was to just keep elevating, elevating, elevating on Salvador,” he said. “We figured he was going to be anxious. I think we both knew that if we bounced a curveball in that situation that we were probably going to get a swing, but he was commanding the ball up so well that I know I didn’t feel like it was worth the risk of a World Series on the line for a ball to hit the front of my plate and bounce over my head.

“That’s kind of how it was playing out in my head, that I know this guy is commanding the ball up. If he can just get it up to the right spot, it’s either going to be a swing-and-miss or a popup.”

The final fastball got the intended result, although Posey joked he would have liked the pitch to be “a touch higher.”

“As you can tell, I was standing up,” he said. “Like, throw this thing over this guy’s head.”

Bumgarner’s 68th pitch of a historic performance didn’t quite get up to Posey’s glove, but it was high enough. Perez popped it up to third, clinching a third title, which Bumgarner, Posey and others from the 2014 team celebrated on Saturday at Oracle Park. Before the ceremony, Bumgarner recalled how he was fine with staying out of the zone in part because he was comfortable putting the winning run on first. 

Perez had homered off Bumgarner in Game 1. On deck was another lefty, Mike Moustakas, who was 1-for-7 off Bumgarner in the series. 

“We were just going to test the waters and I honestly didn’t mind if we walked him,” Bumgarner said. “I was just going to play into his aggressiveness and if he could dial it down then he would have probably wound up on first, but we would have just gotten the next guy.”

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