In the first game of their Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds, the San Francisco Giants collected seven hits and scored two runs. They lost. In Game 2, the Giants finished with two hits. They lost.
Giants finish with 3 hits, beat Reds 2-1 in 10 innings
Despite collecting just one hit in the first nine innings of Game 3, the Giants wound up winning 2-1 with a 10th-inning rally aided by a passed ball and Scott Rolen’s error.
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And in Game 3, they collected just one hit and scored just one run in nine innings.
Fortunately, the game went more than nine innings, and they won. In the top of the 10th inning, the Giants finally strung together a couple of hits, and they scored a single run, thanks to those hits, a passed ball, and Scott Rolen's error on a tough-hop ground ball. And in the bottom of the 10th, Giants closer Sergio Romo, working his second inning, retired the Reds 1-2-3 to avert a three-game sweep and keep the Giants' season going for at least one more day.
In Game 2, Bronson Arroyo pitched seven innings for the Reds and gave up one hit. In Game 3, Homer Bailey -- who no-hit the Pirates less than two weeks ago -- pitched seven innings and gave up just one hit. But in the third, Bailey gave up a run on a hit batter, a walk, a bunt, and a sacrifice fly. So in the bottom of the seventh with the score 1-1, Dusty Baker lifted Bailey -- who'd set a franchise postseason record with 10 strikeouts -- for a pinch hitter.
Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong looked shaky in the first inning (when he gave up a run) and again in the third (when he didn't) but wound up giving up just the single run in his five innings. From there, the Giants' bullpen took over, holding the Reds scoreless through the ninth inning. Cincinnati's relievers, Sean Marshall and Aroldis Chapman, did the same to the Giants in the eighth and ninth. Still no more hits.
In the 10th, though, with Jonathan Broxton pitching for the Reds, Buster Posey led off with a single, and Hunter Pence snuck a grounder into left field for another. Broxton recovered to strike out Brandon Belt, and then Xavier Nady.
That brought up shortstop Joaquin Arias. Broxton's first pitch to Arias sailed past Ryan Hanigan for a passed ball, with both runners moving up. And three pitches later, Arias hit a grounder toward third base that Scott Rolen had to try to grab on a short hop. The ball popped out of his glove, and by the time he recovered and got the ball to first base, Arias was safe and Posey had crossed the plate to put the Giants ahead.
Broxton stopped the rally by striking out Giants reliever Sergio Romo, who'd pitched the bottom of the ninth. Romo returned in the bottom of the 10th, retired Xavier Paul and Brandon Phillips, and ended the game by throwing out Zack Cozart on a weak grounder back to the mound.
Speaking of Phillips, his baserunning might well have cost the Reds this game. He led off the bottom of the first with a single, then stole second base ... but wasn’t content with second base. That same pitch got past the catcher, and so Phillips didn’t stop at second base ...
The Reds would later collect a walk and two more hits in the inning, but score just once; it would, in fact, be the only time they scored in the entire game. And we’re left to wonder what would have happened if Phillips hadn’t been out at third base.
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