Well, the Giants needed a great game from Madison Bumgarner tonight because Doug Fister really brought it. With a little help from the defense and great mechanics, that is exactly what the Giants got. Bumgarner went 7 strong shutout innings allowing just 2 hits, walking two and hitting one. He was only in trouble once and Marco Scutaro picked him up with a great relay to throw Fielder out for the first out of the second inning. Then with Delmon Young at second and one out, he got Peralta to pop out and struck out Garcia. After that the Tigers never got another runner into scoring position against Bumgarner who finished with 8 strikeouts and reminded us that he is a player for the biggest stage of all.
Fister was more than ready to trade shutout frames with Bumgarner but the Giants did a great job of running his pitch count up. Heading into the 7th, Fister was already at 108 pitches and Pence had a won a great battle to leadoff with a single and the pitch count got us into the pen. Drew Smyly came in and was not sharp at all, walking Belt and then allowing Blanco to roll one up the third base line that Cabrera elected to hope would go foul. With the bases loaded, Smyly calmed enough to induce a double play off the bat of Crawford as Pence came in for the games first run.
After Casilla had another strong showing in the 8th, the Giants kept punishing the Tiger pen. After a leadoff walk to Pagan, Scutaro had a rare strikeout. With Sandoval batting, Pagan stole America a taco and the Tigers elected to walk the Panda intentionally and bring in Octavio Dotel to pitch to Posey who walked on four pitches. With the bases loaded for the second straight inning, Pence fell behind 0-2 and battled off some tough pitches before coming up with a productive out on a sac fly. Phil Coke then came in and got Belt to strike out to end the inning but not before the Giants scored a huge insurance run to turn over a 2-0 lead to Sergio Romo. The Giant closer came in sharp and retired the Tigers in order.
It was a great game that really showed the biggest advantages the Giants have in this series. They matched the Tigers starting pitching, played great defense and took advantage of the weakness of the Tigers bullpen. Now, with a strong 2-0 lead, the Giants head to Detroit with Ryan Vogelsong looking to put a strangle hold on the Giants second world series title in three years. There is still work to be done but the Giants clearly look like the deeper team against the top heavy Tigers.
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