PITTSBURGH — The largest-ever PNC Park crowd came here expecting a blackout.
Instead they got a wipeout. And a shutout.
The Giants, continuing their even-year October mastery, silenced the 40,629 fans as shortstop Brandon Crawford drilled a fourth-inning grand slam and Madison Bumgarner pitched a complete-game shutout to lead the Giants to an 8-0 victory Wednesday night over the Pirates in the do-or-die NL wild-card showdown.
Pirates fans came dressed in black. That turned out to be the perfect color for their team’s funeral.
Bumgarner was so dominating (four hits, 10 strikeouts), this wild-card night was nothing like the Royals’ incredible extra-inning victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night. He needed just 109 pitches, 79 were strikes.
This is what the Giants do in October. The victory was the Giants’ eighth straight postseason victory. General manager Brian Sabean’s teams won the World Series in 2010 and 2012.
Billy Beane’s A’s must be jealous.
There is still a month of baseball to go, but the Giants got off to a flying start as they now battle the favored Nationals in the best-of-five NLDS.
Before the game, Sabean was relaxed as he stood along the railing in front of the visitors’ dugout. He said jokingly to The Post that no matter the outcome, he wanted this game to end in nine innings.
Crawford’s grand slam was the first hit in the postseason by a shortstop.
Sabean was the Yankees’ vice president of development and scouting in 1992 when they drafted a shortstop out of Michigan named Derek Jeter. He knows shortstops. He knows talent and was standing there with the team’s director of scouting, John Barr, and a number of key scouts.
Sabean is a baseball lifer who believes heavily in scouting, and that belief has paid off for the Giants in this analytical age.
As for Bumgarner, he was the Giants’ No. 1 pick in 2007, the 10th overall pick, while Crawford was the Giants’ fourth-round selection in 2008.
“Just knowing that you’ve been there before and knowing the success that we’ve had, it made a big difference for me,’’ said Bumgarner, who made his seventh postseason start.
The grand slam was the third of Crawford’s career. His first major league hit was a grand slam.
The inning began with Pablo Sandoval picking up his second single of the game. Hunter Pence, the emotional leader of these Giants, bounced a single to left. Brandon Belt followed with a walk, setting the stage for Crawford’s blast off Edinson Volquez’s hanging breaking ball.
Crawford’s cannonball to right silenced the crowd.
“I was just trying to get one run home,’’ Crawford said. “When somebody like Madison gets that many runs, especially the way he was on tonight, it’s lights out.’’
The West Coast left-hander who dominated this season is Clayton Kershaw, but Bumgarner is no slouch himself. He was 18-10 (2.98 ERA) with 219 strikeouts. More importantly, Bumgarner, just 25, was 13-5 on the road, the perfect pitcher to take on the Pirates.
This season, Bumgarner collected six double-digit strikeout games. Only Kershaw had more. He also proved his toughness in the 2010 and 2012 World Series, and Bruce Bochy, managing in his seventh postseason, went into this game confident Bumgarner would come through for him.
“It’s hard to pitch a better game than what Madison did,’’ Bochy said. “We all feel that he is one of the best left-handers in the game, too. He was battle-tested at an early age. He is so calm and so determined, as tough a competitor I’ve ever had and he’s got the stuff to go with it.’’
It’s an even year, and the Giants have a shot to win another World Series.
“We’re not going to be favored going into Washington,’’ said veteran Jake Peavy, who won a World Series last season with the Red Sox. “I will tell you this. We believe in each other. We have to be a team. We have to play as a unit. We’ve embraced that role, everybody in this clubhouse believes we can beat anybody.’’
These Giants are built for postseason success.