Well, Doug Fister's out of Game 2. He'd thrown 107 pitches in the first six innings, despite giving up only three hits and one walk. With Hunter Pence leading off the seventh, Jim Leyland sent Fister back to the mound to face Pence. But Fister couldn't put Pence away, and the ultimate result was a ground-ball single to left field.
Giants take 1-0 lead in 7th on Crawford’s double-play grounder
So Leyland went to his bullpen. With the next three Giants in the lineup all left-handed hitters -- hey, good thinking Bruce Bochy! -- Leyland summoned southpaw Drew Smyly, who spent most of the season in the Tigers' rotation, but whose two appearances in the postseason were both as a reliever against the Yankees in the ALCS.
Alas, Leyland's machinations didn't work. Just as Fister couldn't put Pence away, Smyly couldn't put Brandon Belt away, and wound up walking him. That brought up Gregor Blanco, who desperately wanted to bunt. Even though Smyly couldn't throw strikes, Blanco just kept trying to bunt. And when he finally did, it couldn't have worked out any better. Because the Giants got a lot more than just a sacrifice hit. Watch the umpire:
That loaded the bases, of course. Which meant the game's first run just a moment later, when Brandon Crawford grounded into a double play. The good news for the Tigers was the rally brought the pitcher's spot up, and so Bochy sent up Ryan Theriot as a pinch hitter for Madison Bumgarner. And Smyly did strikeout Theriot to end it.
So after seven innings, we finally have a real score: Giants 1, Tigers 0. Bumgarner threw seven shutout innings, with eight strikeouts. Santiago Casilla's coming in to start the top of the eighth. And the Tigers' backs are against the wall.
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