KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The historical oddity of this World Series can be measured in the pitch count of Santiago Casilla. He is the closer for the San Francisco Giants — and a very good one, at that — yet for six games he has hardly been needed.

Casilla completed a strikeout in Game 1 after Tim Lincecum left with a back injury. He faced one batter in Game 3 and struck him out on three pitches. That is his total workload.

“It’s a surprise because I’ve thrown only, like, four pitches in the World Series,” Casilla said, accurately, in the Giants’ clubhouse after the Kansas City Royals’ 10-0 victory Tuesday night. “But they have a good team, very good hitting. Sometimes that’s what happens in the game. We never know how it’s going to go.”

None of the previous 109 World Series have gone quite like this. It is the first World Series with five games decided by at least five runs. The Royals won Game 3 by a 3-2 score. The other games, by the end, have been blowouts.