GIANTS PUNCH TICKET TO POSTSEASON WITH ‘W’ OVER REDS

Bumgarner Wins 25^th

CINCINNATI, Sept. 29 (AP) – Madison Bumgarner held the Cincinnati Reds to two runs on two hits over seven innings, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 7-2 win at Great American Ballpark and into the postseason. The Giants will now face the Cardinals in St. Louis in the National League Wildcard game. The Giants have not officially announced their starter for the contest at Busch Stadium, but it’s expected to be Tim Hudson, who would be working on full rest. The Cardinals will send ace Adam Wainwright, the NL’s ERA champ, to the mound.

The Giants had the starting pitching edge in this game and they exploited it. After a pair of scoreless innings, San Francisco broke through off Reds starter Daniel Corcino in the top of the third, without the benefit of a hit. Travis Ishikawa drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch on the first offering to Brandon Crawford. Two pitches later, Corcino uncorked another wild pitch, and Ishikawa moved to third. Crawford then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Ishikawa, and the Giants led 1-0.

San Francisco took a commanding lead in the fourth, and drove Corcino, who was on an understandably short leash to begin with, from the game. With one out, Buster Posey drew a free pass and he advanced to third on Pablo Sandoval’s double, the first Giants hit of the game. With right-handed Hunter Pence due before a string of three consecutive left-handed hitters, Cincinnati manager Bryan Price had Corcino remain in the game for one more hitter, and he ultimately walked Pence, loading the bases. Price replaced Corcino with lefty Manny Parra to face Brandon Belt, but Belt foiled the strategy, roping the first pitch he saw into the right-center field gap for a two-run double, with Pence advancing to third. Ishikawa’s sacrifice fly to center plated Pence to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead.

It was still 4-0 in the sixth when the Giants put the game away, scoring three runs off reliever J.J. Hoover. Pence cracked a one-out solo home run into the left field seats to make it 5-0 and, after Ishikawa singled one out later, Crawford drove the first pitch he saw from Hoover into the right field bullpen to make it 7-0.

It was more than enough support for Bumgarner, who led all major league starters in wins this season, by a wide margin. After pitching around a lead-off double to Kris Negron in the bottom of the first, Bumgarner didn’t allow a baserunner past first through six innings. In fact, after a one-out walk to Negron in the third, he induced a double play from Brandon Phillips, the first of ten consecutive Reds hitters he retired through the sixth.

Cincinnati punctured Bumgarner’s seeming invincibility in the seventh when Todd Frazier drew a lead-off walk and, after Devin Mesoraco fanned and Chris Heisey flied to left, the Giants ace hung a 1-2 breaking ball to Ryan Ludwick, who deposited it in the left field stands to end the shutout. A seemingly annoyed Bumgarner responded by punching out Yorman Rodriguez for his seventh strikeout of the game.

George Kontos and Tim Lincecum each tossed a perfect inning of relief to close out the game quietly and efficiently as the Giants planned their relatively short flight to St. Louis.

The victory was the 25^th of the season for Bumgarner and his seventh consecutive decision without a defeat. The last loss charged to Bumgarner (25-5) came on August 8 against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

9/29/2014, SF14-Cin14, Great American Ball Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP

2014 Giants 0 0 1 3 0 3 0 0 0 7 7 0 6 2

2014 Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 2 0

Giants AB R H BI AVG Reds AB R H BI AVG

Blanco,G cf 5 0 1 0 .263 Negron 3b 3 0 1 0 .319

Panik 2b 5 0 0 0 .259 Phillips 2b 4 0 0 0 .246

Posey c 4 1 1 0 .287 Frazier 1b 3 1 0 0 .286

Lincecum p 0 0 0 0 .086 Mesoraco c 3 0 0 0 .312

Sandoval 3b 5 1 1 0 .255 Heisey cf 3 0 0 0 .240

Pence rf 3 2 1 1 .273 Ludwick lf 3 1 1 2 .252

Belt 1b 3 0 1 2 .241 Rodriguez,Y rf 3 0 1 0 .313

Ishikawa lf 1 1 1 1 .370 Cozart ss 2 0 0 0 .219

Perez,J pr 1 1 0 0 .253 Santiago,R ph 1 0 0 0 .261

Crawford,B ss 2 1 1 3 .255 Corcino p 1 0 0 0 .167

Bumgarner p 3 0 0 0 .250 Parra,M p 0 0 0 0 .000

Kontos p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Hoover p 0 0 0 0 .000

Susac ph 0 0 0 0 .230 Bourgeois ph 1 0 0 0 .189

32 7 7 7 Dennick p 0 0 0 0 .000

Diaz,Ju p 0 0 0 0 .000

Bruce ph 1 0 0 0 .205

Chapman,A p 0 0 0 0 .000

28 2 3 2

Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Bumgarner W 25-5 7.0 3 2 2 3 7 98 58 2.61

Kontos 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 9 1.04

Lincecum 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 9 7 3.48

9.0 3 2 2 3 9 121 74

Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Corcino L 0-2 3.1 1 4 4 3 1 56 30 3.42

Parra,M 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 11 5 2.68

Hoover 2.1 3 3 3 0 3 43 27 3.84

Dennick 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 5 4 11.57

Diaz,Ju 1.2 0 0 0 1 1 27 15 2.45

Chapman,A 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 24 12 2.45

9.0 7 7 7 6 5 166 93

SF : Perez,J ran for Ishikawa in the 6th

Perez,J moved to lf in the 6th

Susac batted for Kontos in the 9th

Susac moved to c in the 9th

Cin: Bourgeois batted for Hoover in the 6th

Santiago,R batted for Cozart in the 8th

Bruce batted for Diaz,Ju in the 8th

Santiago,R moved to ss in the 9th

2B-Sandoval(33), Belt(9), Negron(11). HR-Pence(22), Crawford,B(15),

Ludwick(9). RBI-Pence(70), Belt 2(33), Ishikawa(12), Crawford,B 3(65),

Ludwick 2(40). K-Panik, Sandoval, Belt, Bumgarner, Perez,J, Frazier,

Mesoraco 2, Ludwick, Rodriguez,Y 2, Cozart, Santiago,R, Bruce. BB-Posey,

Pence, Belt, Ishikawa, Crawford,B, Susac, Negron, Frazier, Mesoraco.

SF-Ishikawa, Crawford,B. WP-Corcino 2.

GWRBI: Crawford,B

Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 12 MPH.

Attendance: 42,162

Game Time: 3:11