World Series notebook: Hunter Pence seemingly everywhere for victorious Giants

Pablo Sandoval returned to form from the right side of the plate. Yusmeiro Petit considered his amazing run of relief, and Sergio Romo looked pretty tough, too. Young Joe Panik sparked a couple of rallies.

But the guy who seemed to be in the middle of everything for the Giants in Game 4 was Hunter Pence, who seems to add elements of chaos and dependability in equal measures.

It was Pence who fired out of the batter’s box and beat out a potential double-play ball in the first inning, allowing Gregor Blanco to score San Francisco’s first run. It was Pence who grounded a ball up the middle in the fifth to cut the Royals’ lead to 4-3, who hustled to third base on Sandoval’s single to left, who tagged and scored to make it 4-4. It was Pence who ripped one down the left-field line in the seventh, scoring Panik. And it was Pence who made a sliding, reaching catch of Lorenzo Cain’s liner in the ninth.

“He’s the guy that’s a vocal leader on the team, and he gets guys fired up,” Panik said. “And with his play, he’s all-out and gives everything he’s got. It’s spectacular to watch. He’s fun to watch. He’s really big to this team. He’s in the middle of a lot of things offensively and defensively.”

THE AT&T MUD RUN:

The infield dirt at AT&T Park looked a bit soggy to many viewers in Game 3 on Friday night, spurring immediate speculation that the Giants had dumped extra water in an effort to slow down the speedy Royals on the basepaths.

Asked whether the dirt looked damp to him, Kansas City manager Ned Yost added a little fuel to the fire.

“In some places,” Yost said. “And yes, I thought it was a little extra wet around first (base). When Moose (Mike Moustakas) or somebody got on, it might have been Moose, and he dove back into first base and he came up extremely muddy, I thought that it was a little damper than normal, yeah.”

Saturday, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he didn’t notice the supposed slurry, and that he would never get involved in groundskeeping decisions unless the field looked unplayable. The dirt was wet again.

FANTASTIC FIRST COURSE:

The pregame hoopla was of a higher order than the usual, even for a World Series game, and certainly better received.

Rock legend Carlos Santana and his son, keyboardist Salvador Santana, performed a bluesy instrumental national anthem. Mo’Ne Davis, the 13-year-old sensation from Taney Little League in Philadelphia, threw out the first pitch - from the actual pitching rubber, at her insistence. (She threw a strike.) And Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was seriously injured outside of Dodger Stadium in 2011, arrived via wheelchair to yell “play ball!”

NOTES:

Buster Posey tied Barry Bonds’ franchise record with his 21st postseason RBI.

Yusmeiro Petit had 5 hits in 103 regular-season at-bats, but got a hit against the Royals.

The last 3 pitchers to get a hit in the World Series have all been Giants - Petit, Barry Zito in 2012 and Matt Cain in 2010.