GIANTS FORCE WILDCARD PLAY-IN GAME
Defeat Punchless Pads to Set Up Clash with Reds
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28 (AP) – Chris Heston tossed five innings of one-hit shutout ball and the San Francisco Giants went on to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-2 at AT&T Park, tying the Cincinnati Reds for the final National League Wildcard slot in the process. The Giants will now travel to Cincinnati for a single-game tiebreaker to determine which club will receive the final NL playoff spot. The Reds will host the game as a product of winning the season series with San Francisco, five games to two; Cincinnati has won the last four head-to-head meetings between the teams, but the Giants have won two of the three games the clubs have played in Cincinnati.
The Giants took a lead they would never surrender in the bottom of the second inning on Brandon Crawford’s two-out single off Padres starter Robbie Erlin. The hit scored Pablo Sandoval who had doubled two batters earlier.
San Francisco doubled the lead in the fourth. Buster Posey led off with a single, extending his hitting streak to 18 games, and advanced to second one out later when Sandoval reached on Cameron Maybin’s error. Erlin walked Brandon Belt to load the bases and, after Crawford fanned, Travis Ishikawa singled to left. Posey scored, but Seth Smith cut Sandoval down at the plate to end the inning. Still, benefitting from the unearned run, the Giants now led 2-0.
Another unearned run increased the lead to three in the bottom of the fifth. Second baseman Cory Spangenberg booted Gregor Blanco’s one-out grounder, putting a runner on second. After Joe Panik flied out, Posey singled to right-center, scoring Blanco.
With two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, San Francisco appeared to all but wrap up the game. Sandoval led off with a base hit and moved to third on Belt’s double to right. Alexander Torres replaced Erlin and, with the infield in, retired Crawford on a ground ball, with the runners holding. Ishikawa walked, filling the bases, but pinch hitter Chris Dominguez hit into a fielder’s choice, with Sandoval being forced at the plate. Just when it seemed that the Padres might escape the inning, Blanco grounded a single to center, scoring two runs and putting the Giants on top 5-0.
Heston held San Diego at bay throughout his five innings of work, striking out four while walking a pair and allowing only one safety, a two-out single off the bat of Spangenberg in the third.
Erik Cordier tossed a perfect sixth for the Giants and Brett Bochy matched that effort in the seventh. San Diego finally broke through in the eighth when Alexi Amarista led off with a single off Tim Lincecum, advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third when Maybin grounded to second and scored on Yangervis Solarte’s ground out to third.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy, staring at the prospect of another win-or-go-home contest tomorrow, was hoping to avoid using his front line bullpen arms on this day and called on Juan Gutierrez to close out the four-run lead in the top of the ninth, but the right-hander immediately ran into trouble. Spangenberg led off with a double and, after Jedd Gyorko grounded to first with Spangenberg taking third, surrendered a triple to Yasmani Grandal. The score was now 5-2 and the tying run was standing in the on-deck circle. Unwilling to push things further, Bochy reluctantly called on Sergio Romo to seal the deal. That Romo did, retiring Smith on a shallow fly to right and Rene Rivera on a grounder to third.
The Giants now have a chance to play their way into the postseason, and have a decided pitching advantage against the Reds. Madison Bumgarner, the major league leader in wins (24), will take the mound on full rest. None of the top three Reds starters—Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake and Alfredo Simon—are available, all of them having started in the past three days as Cincinnati tried, and failed, to close out the wildcard race over the weekend. The starter for the Reds is currently listed as TBD.
9/28/2014, SD14-SF14, AT&T Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Padres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 2 4 0
2014 Giants 0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 x 5 10 1 8 0
Padres AB R H BI AVG Giants AB R H BI AVG
Venable rf 3 0 0 0 .239 Blanco,G cf 5 1 1 2 .264
Spangenberg 3b 4 1 2 0 .369 Panik 2b 4 0 0 0 .264
Gyorko 2b 4 0 0 0 .191 Posey c 4 1 2 1 .288
Grandal 1b 3 0 1 1 .191 Pence rf 4 0 0 0 .273
Smith,S lf 4 0 0 0 .263 Sandoval 3b 4 1 2 0 .256
Rivera c 4 0 0 0 .244 Belt 1b 3 1 1 0 .240
Amarista ss 3 1 1 0 .205 Crawford,B ss 3 0 1 1 .254
Maybin cf 3 0 0 0 .218 Ishikawa lf 3 1 2 1 .364
Erlin p 2 0 0 0 .000 Gutierrez p 0 0 0 0 .000
Torres,A p 0 0 0 0 .000 Romo p 0 0 0 0 .000
Vincent p 0 0 0 0 .000 Heston p 1 0 0 0 .000
Solarte ph 1 0 0 1 .267 Duvall ph 1 0 0 0 .169
Quackenbush p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cordier p 0 0 0 0 .000
31 2 4 2 Dominguez,C ph 1 0 0 0 .059
Bochy p 0 0 0 0 .000
Lincecum p 0 0 0 0 .086
Perez,J ph 1 0 1 0 .256
34 5 10 5
Padres INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Erlin L 1-9 5.0 8 5 3 1 3 87 58 7.12
Torres,A 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 20 11 4.75
Vincent 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 7 1.14
Quackenbush 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 15 9 2.40
8.0 10 5 3 3 4 133 85
Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Heston W 2-0 5.0 1 0 0 2 4 81 44 1.23
Cordier H 2 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 15 9 9.53
Bochy H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 10 8 3.00
Lincecum 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 17 10 3.51
Gutierrez 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 6 5 5.54
Romo S 25 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 9 5 3.51
9.0 4 2 2 2 5 138 81
SD : Solarte batted for Vincent in the 8th
SF : Duvall batted for Heston in the 5th
Dominguez,C batted for Cordier in the 6th
Perez,J batted for Lincecum in the 8th
Perez,J moved to lf in the 9th
E-Spangenberg, Maybin, Belt. 2B-Spangenberg(3), Sandoval(32), Belt(8).
3B-Grandal(2). RBI-Grandal(38), Solarte(36), Blanco,G 2(43), Posey(84),
Crawford,B(62), Ishikawa(11). CS-Grandal, Crawford,B. K-Venable, Gyorko,
Grandal, Rivera, Amarista, Blanco,G, Pence, Crawford,B, Heston. BB-Venable,
Grandal, Belt, Crawford,B, Ishikawa. WP-Heston, Lincecum.
GWRBI: Crawford,B
Temperature: 45, Sky: cloudy, Wind: out to center at 1 MPH.
Attendance: 41,806
Game Time: 2:51