Bumgarner tossed a four-hitter while striking out 10, and Brandon Crawford hit the first grand slam by a shortstop in postseason history as the Giants put an abrupt end to Pittsburgh's second straight postseason appearance. The chase included a decision to start budding ace Gerrit Cole in the regular-season finale in the hopes of catching the Cardinals and avoiding the wild-card game. The former All-Star — in the midst of a mid-career renaissance after winning a team-high 13 games — navigated three innings in the biggest start of his career before it all unraveled in the fourth, when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Overpowering one of the NL's best lineups, Bumgarner walked one and threw 79 of 109 pitches for strikes in his latest stellar October performance. The big left-hander, who allowed only four singles, has thrown 15 scoreless innings in two World Series starts. [...] baseman Pablo Sandoval — all 245 pounds of him — flipped over the railing in front of the Pittsburgh dugout to track down a foul popup off the bat of Russell Martin. An important offseason lies ahead as Pittsburgh tries to re-sign catcher Russell Martin and figures out how to address potential holes in the rotation with Volquez and Liriano becoming free agents. If last fall's success was a breakthrough following 20 years of misery, this fall's failure revealed the gap between the Pirates and a championship team is narrowing, but not quite closed.