Twice in his 27 years, Buster Posey has known the tense yet exquisite feeling of walking into a ballpark knowing that nine good innings later, he and his team can be World Series champions.

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” Posey said. “The moment you wake up, it feels different. It’s a special feeling. It’s something every one of us can embrace and enjoy.”

The Giants will get to embrace it Tuesday night in Kansas City. They are on the brink of their third World Series title in five seasons after one of the best pitchers in this or any postseason gave the fans one more thrill before AT&T Park closed for baseball until spring.

Madison Bumgarner pitched the first World Series complete game and shutout by a Giant in 52 years in Sunday night’s 5-0 victory, a four-hitter in Game 5 that elevated his already lofty postseason stature.

With Brandon Crawford driving in three runs and Juan Perez busting open the game with a two-run eighth-inning double, while still raw from the news that friend and winter-ball teammate Oscar Taveras of the St.Louis Cardinals had died in a car crash, the Giants grabbed a lead of three games to two in the best-of-seven Series.

The Giants need to win once in two games at Kauffman Stadium to take the championship, a tall order even if it sounds otherwise, as anyone who still feels the sting of 2002 can attest.

2 1 of 2 Beck Diefenbach / Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Brant Ward / The Chronicle Show More Show Less



This Series has tracked that one identically, with the Giants winning Game1 on the road and Games4 and 5 at home to take a 3-2 lead back to the American League park. Rumor has it, things did not go well in Anaheim 12 years ago.

If the Giants do hoist the trophy, Bumgarner will be favored to win the Series Most Valuable Player award, as he did in the National League Championship Series, after holding the Royals to one run in 16 innings in Games 1 and 5, twice beating James Shields.

In fact, Salvador Perez’s Game1 homer is the only run Bumgarner has allowed in four World Series starts against the Rangers, Tigers and Royals, leaving him with the lowest ERA in Series history, 0.29, among pitchers with at least 25 innings.

On Sunday, he threw the first World Series shutout since Josh Beckett’s for the Marlins in 2003 and the first by a Giant since Jack Sanford in Game 2 of the 1962 seven-gamer against the Yankees.

In Game 6 that year, Billy Pierce went the distance in a Giants win. No Giant threw another World Series complete game until Bumgarner sliced and diced a formidable Kansas City lineup over 117 pitches on a warm evening at China Basin.

Juan Marichal pitched in that 1962 Series. On Sunday, he sat in AT&T Park and marveled at Bumgarner’s work.

“He’s so smooth. He’s cold-blooded,” Marichal said in the clubhouse as he waited to shake Bumgarner’s hand. “When he’s on the mound, he dominates everybody.

“I saw him at age 21 in Texas. At that time, I said to myself, 'We’re going to see a pitcher for a long time, a good, good pitcher.’ Every time he’s on the mound, I know something positive is going to happen.”

There was little doubt manager Bruce Bochy would allow Bumgarner to finish, even though Santiago Casilla twice got loose in case Bumgarner ran into late trouble.

“I would have felt worse if I had taken him out and something would have happened, when you’ve got a guy out there rolling the way he was,” Bochy said.

Perez’s two-run double against Wade Davis in the eighth allowed Bumgarner to breathe a little easier after he had nursed a 2-0 lead for four innings. Perez’s blast off the center-field wall was as important as it was stunning, coming against a pitcher who allowed two extra-base hits to right-handed hitters all season.

“We had a two-run lead,” Crawford said. “With Madison on the mound, we’re still confident. But to put a couple of extra runs on the board was huge, especially against one of their big three.”

Crawford followed with a single that scored Perez and gave the shortstop three RBIs. He delivered the first run off Shields with a groundball in the second, then two innings later, plucked a two-out, two-strike offspeed pitch off the ground and blooped it to center to score Pablo Sandoval.

“Hunter-esque,” Crawford said, smiling.

Hunter Pence started the first rally with a single before Brandon Belt went against the right-side shift and got his first career bunt single, something he and Bochy had discussed to “spread the field,” Belt said.

Belt also made a fine defensive play to end the fourth inning when Bumgarner made his only real mistake, failing to cover first on a Salvador Perez groundball. Belt ran to the bag and slid feet first to beat the runner.

“He’s 6-5,” Joe Panik said. “If he goes in face first, I don’t want to think about it.”

Now, the Giants can start to think about two chances in Kansas City to return to San Francisco with a third trophy in the Bochy era.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman

Tuesday’s game

What: World Series Game 6

Where: Kansas City, Mo.

When: 5:07 p.m.

TV/Radio:Channel: 2Channel: 40/680,95.7

Pitchers: Peavy (6-4) vs. Ventura (14-10)

World Series schedule

All games at 5:07 p.m.

Game 1: Giants 7, Royals 1

Game 2: Royals 7, Giants 2

Game 3: Royals 3, Giants 2

Game 4: Giants 11, Royals 4

Game 5: Giants 5, Royals 0

Game 6: Tues. at Kansas City

Game 7: Wed. at Kansas City*