Hey, extra innings! A game that was 4-0 after one inning and looked like it would be a snoozefest turned into another exciting game decided by one run. The Giants won it 5-4 in 10 innings to take the series lead. Five key moments:
1. Bad bunt, good bunt, bad throw.
— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) October 14, 2014
"Here, have an out."
"Nah, you can have a hit."
"Thanks! But really, take an out."
"No thanks. Try this winning run."
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) October 14, 2014
Randy Choate had a bad inning
— James DEAD AGAIN (@JRFegan) October 14, 2014
That was the 12th 1-run game of the #Postseason matching 1995, 97 & 2003 for 2nd most in history. Record is 13, set in 2011, tied last year.
— MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) October 14, 2014
It wasn't a pretty half-inning of baseball but the Giants will take it. Randy Choate has one of biggest platoon splits in baseball. The sidearming southpaw is tough against left-handed batters but nearly unusable against right-handed, who had a .458 OBP against him this year and .431 over the past three seasons. He was brought in to face Brandon Crawford, but walked him, Crawford laying off a 3-2 sinker. Give Crawford credit here. He hit .320 with a .395 OBP against lefties this season; some have credited his spring training work with Barry Bonds in helping him improve against left-handed pitches. The numbers are probably a one-season fluke but he does do a good job standing in there. But Choate has to throw him a strike there. No excuses.
That brought up light-hitting outfielder Juan Perez, a right-handed batter. I can see why Matheny left in Choate, since Perez was going to bunt, and two left-handed batters were on deck. Except Perez bunted the first two pitches foul, fouled off two pitches and then lined a base hit to left. Considering Choate's issues against righties, you could argue that Perez should have been swinging away anyway, especially since Choate against Gregor Blanco or Joe Panik is a matchup advantage for St. Louis.
Anyway, that created an obvious bunt situation for Blanco, who put down a good bunt and Choate's throw to second baseman Kolten Wong sailed into the bullpen to score the winning run.
2. Pablo Sandoval's sweet play keeps it tied.
Looked like a good play in real time. Then you see the funky little hop, and it's a fantastic play. #nlcs #postseason
— Matthew Leach (@MatthewHLeach) October 14, 2014
I'm always amazed by the quickness with with Sandoval fields, and the strength and accuracy with which he throws. He's a freaking Panda.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) October 14, 2014
Both teams have been on the top step of their dugouts for 2 hours, hanging on every pitch. 2 teams that are totally into it. Always.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 14, 2014
With Jon Jay running on the pitch with two outs in the top of the 10th, Matt Holliday hit a hard grounder down the third-base line. Yes, Sandoval was shading to the line, but it was still an excellent play. With the left fielder played well off the line, Jay likely scores if Sandoval doesn't make the play.
3. Randal Grichuk ties it up against Tim Hudson.
Bochy hit the right number on the roulette wheel to end 6th. Now he's pressing his bet to open the 7th!!!.
— Joe Strauss (@JoeStrauss) October 14, 2014
Opponents slugging .498 off Hudson 3rd time thru the order this season... 5th highest in MLB. #NLCS #STLcards
— Tim Trokey (@tim_trokey) October 14, 2014
Randal Grichuk pulverizes a solo home run to left field! His 2nd HR of the postseason to tie the game 4-4 in the 7th!
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 14, 2014
Even as Hudson was left in for the seventh inning, people were questioning the decision to leave him in. Even though his pitch count was still less than 90, he'd given up two runs in the fourth on Kolten Wong's triple, hit John Lackey in the fifth only to get a double play and then allowed a run in the sixth. Grichuk hit a first-pitch cut fastball out to left and the Cardinals, down 4-0 after the first, were now tied.
This appeared to be a direct reflection of the poor performance of the Giants bullpen in Game 2. Bochy had been using Hunter Strickland as an option in this area of the game to bridge the gap to his two lefties, Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla, but Strickland gave up his fourth home run of the postseason in Game 2, and it's pretty easy to assume Bochy had lost confidence in him at this point.
So ... what to do? With Hudson facing the 7-8-9 hitters (A.J. Pierzynski, Grichuk and the pitcher's spot), I can understand Bochy wanting to coax another inning out of Hudson. He probably doesn't have much confidence in Romo against left-handers, so you can see a scenario where he wanted Hudson to get through the seventh against three weak hitters, Jeremy Affeldt or Javier Lopez to face Matt Carpenter and Jon Jay, Romo to face Matt Holliday and then Casilla in the ninth. That all sounds great until it doesn't. And the fact that Bochy immediately removed Hudson after the home run shows that he was on a short leash anyway. But a leash one batter too long.
(Of course, this also gets to why Tim Lincecum is even on the roster. If Yusmeiro Petit is the long man of choice, what is Lincecum's role besides good-luck charm or, I guess, mop-up guy in a blowout game?)
4. Cardinals intentionally walk Brandon Belt, Travis Ishikawa clears the bases.
“I don’t think you can hit a ball harder than that” - Mike Krukow on ISHIKAWA’s bomb to right field
#SFGiants #OctoberTogether
— #OctoberTogether (@SFGiants) October 14, 2014
Lackey expecting Grichuk to catch that Ishikawa ball. Not sure I can think of any RF that does.
— CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) October 14, 2014
Some early strategizing in this one. With the Giants already up 1-0 in the first after Hunter Pence's RBI double, they had runners on second and third with two outs. Mike Matheny elected to put Belt on first to pitch to Ishikawa. The basis for the move is pretty simple: Belt is a better hitter than Ishikawa. But the difference may be small, Ishikawa hadn't been struggling (he was 5-for-18 in the postseason) and there was no platoon advantage to be gained. In general terms, it's not a move you normally see in the regular season.
Sure enough, Matheny hadn't called for an intentional walk all season in the first inning. He had issued just four intentional walks with runners on second and third and two outs all season in any inning. Did they compare to this case?
April 17: Jose Lobaton, second inning. This allowed Adam Wainwright to face the pitcher and he got out of the jam.
May 18: Evan Gattis, ninth inning. Trevor Rosenthal walked Gattis to pitch to Jordan Shafer, trying to hold a one-run lead. Matheny went against the platoon advantage here to get to a weaker batter. This one backfired as Shafer walked and Rosenthal then threw a wild pitch as the Cardinals lost.
June 10: Matt Joyce, fourth inning. Wainwright walked Joyce to face the right-handed Logan Forsythe, who lined out (Wainwright went on to pitch a 1-0 shutout).
July 6: Casey McGehee, sixth inning. Nick Greenwood walked McGehee to get to Marcell Ozuna, two right-handed batters. So kind of an odd one. Didn't work as Ozuna singled.
So three of those were a little more conventional. Still, the point is this: Matheny probably overthought this one, doing something he hadn't done all season. Of course, if Lackey gets Ishikawa it looks like a great decision.
Instead, Ishikawa launched a blast to right field on a first-pitch two-seam fastball, a grand slam on most days, but the ball got caught up in the swirling winds and drifted to right-center. The ball ended up at the base of the wall in deep right-center, catchable except Grichuk had already backed off to play the carom and thus drawing the John Lackey face from John Lackey.
5. Lackey settles down.
Potential for John Lackey Meltdown Face is high today
— Jravis (@teejeejeej) October 14, 2014
Lackey 1st inning: 4er, 4h, 1bb, 20 pitches.
Lackey innings 2-6: 0r, 1h, 0bb, 3k, 59 pitches.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) October 14, 2014
After Grichuk failed to come up with Ishikawa's drive, Lackey's outstretched arms showed his, umm, displeasure. As Lackey is wont to due. Anyway, we never got the Meltdown Face as Lackey kept the Cardinals in the game.
