Giants-Royals World Series opener sets record low TV rating

San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence, left, celebrates with Pablo Sandoval the team's 7-1 victory in Game 1 of baseball's World Series over the Kansas City Royals Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A World Series opener involving the San Francisco Giants set a record low TV rating for the second time in three seasons.

San Francisco’s 7-1 win over Kansas City drew a 7.3 rating and 12.2 million viewers Tuesday night on Fox, according to fast national ratings by Nielsen Media Research.

That broke the previous low of a 7.6 rating and 12.2 million for the Giants’ 8-3 victory over Detroit in 2012. San Francisco’s 11.7 win over Texas in the 2010 opener got an 8.9 rating.

The rating for this year’s opener began with a 6.9 from 8:05-8:30 p.m. EDT and peaked at 8.5 in the half hour starting at 9 p.m. With the Giants scoring three runs in the first inning and leading 5-0 by the fourth, the rating ended at 5.7 from 11:30-11:41 p.m.

Still, Fox said Wednesday it expects to win the prime-time night and have its best Tuesday night since February 2012.

Fox Deportes averaged 273,000 viewers, a record for Spanish-language World Series coverage.