The Cardinals went down quietly in the top of the eighth, with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a Pablo Sandoval. Santiago Casilla was the reliever on the mound, making his sixth appearance of the postseason (of a possible six games). He relieved Jeremy Affeldt who relieved Tim Lincecum, who relieved George Kontos.
Get used to the bullpens
On the other side, Joe Kelly relieved Lance Lynn, and Rzepczynski relieved Kelly before being relieved by Edward Mujica. Now Mitchell Boggs is in the game for the Cardinals.
This is probably the paradigm you’ll see throughout the NLCS for both teams. The Giants haven’t been getting innings from their starting pitchers for the last month, and the Cardinals won their last NLCS without having a starting pitcher get through the sixth inning. Both teams will use their bullpens early and often.
So far it’s been as expected, and through eight innings, the bullpens have been flawless. Jason Motte will come into the ninth for the save.
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