San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner can further cement his status as the best postseason pitcher in the game on Sunday, as he tries to move the Giants to the brink of their third title in five years against Kansas City in a pivotal World Series Game 5 at AT&T Park.

"It's going to be a good battle," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "But we'll say the fact that he's had his normal rest, I feel a lot better, to be honest."

Bumgarner gave up one run over seven innings to beat the Royals in Game 1. His only mistake was a two-out home run to Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the seventh inning, which ended his MLB-record scoreless innings streak on the road at 33 2/3 frames.

It was also the first run he had surrendered in three World Series starts, spanning 21 innings, dating back to 2012.

Bumgarner's 3-1 with a 1.40 ERA in five starts this postseason and he's also won all three of his World Series starts with an 0.41 ERA. His six straight postseason starts of seven-plus innings with seven or fewer baserunners is also an MLB record.

His only loss this postseason, though, came at AT&T Park.

"I feel as good as I've felt all year right now, which is fortunate for me," said Bumgarner, who has thrown 256 innings this season.

There had been a report that Bumgarner demanded to start Saturday's Game 4 on three days' rest, which also could have made him available for a potential seventh game, albeit again on short rest. Everyone refuted that on Saturday, though.

"It sounds like I'm trying to run the team, which I'm certainly not," Bumgarner said. "It doesn't make any sense to me why that would happen. I never said anything to anyone about anything. We knew that was an option, and I prepared where I would be ready for Game 4 or 5 or any of them. That's just ridiculous."

Regardless, Bochy stuck with Ryan Vogelsong, who lasted only 2 2/3 innings, but San Francisco bailed him out and evened this best-of-seven series at two games apiece, as Pablo Sandoval knocked in the go-ahead runs with a single in the sixth inning and the Giants scored seven unanswered runs in an 11-4 win.

The Giants banged out 16 hits, including 13 singles in the win. Joe Panik hit two of their three doubles, driving in two runs. Hunter Pence also doubled and finished with three hits and three RBI and Gregor Blanco singled twice and scored three times.

Even reliever Yusmeiro Petit (1-0), who threw three scoreless innings for the win, contributed to the total, becoming the first relief pitcher in 23 years with a hit in the World Series.

"Everybody did something to contribute," said Bochy.

Omar Infante had a two-run single in a four-run third inning for the Royals, who won the previous two games, including a 3-2 victory in San Francisco on Friday.

"Oh, man, somewhere inside of me, secretly I had hoped that it would go seven games for the excitement and the thrill of it," Royals manager Ned Yost said. ''Sure looks that way."

On Sunday, Kansas City will turn to its ace, James Shields, who has been anything but "Big Game James" this postseason, pitching to an 8.05 ERA in four starts..

Shields was able to record just nine outs against the Giants in Game 1, as he was banged around for five runs and seven hits in four-plus frames. He is now just 1-3 with an 8.26 ERA in six playoff outings since 2010.

"You're always working," Shields said. "I don't think I'll ever stop working until I'm done playing baseball. ... We went into the bullpen, fixed a few things mechanically, and hopefully it translates into the game. And I'm sure it will. I feel really good."

This is the 44th time that the World Series has been tied 2-2. Of the previous 43, the winner of Game 5 has gone on to win the Series 28 times (65.1 percent), but interestingly, just four times in the last 11 occasions.

These teams actually met in the regular season, as the Royals completed a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium.

Game 6 will be played on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.