Even after just three innings of play, the San Francisco Giants’ World Series prospects were fairly set in stone.
The Giants erupted for a four-hit, five-run bottom of the third against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS. The offensive outburst extended their lead to 7-0, and one that they would never relinquish. They won by a final score of 9-0, earning their second NL Pennant and trip to the Fall Classic in three years.
At that point, St. Louis had mustered just three singles and only four more the rest of the game. San Francisco’s offensive and pitching dominance was only matched by the Cards’ futility in all facets of the game—defense most especially.
Their two errors in Game 7 were purely emblematic of the sloppy play by the defending World Series champions. They committed six errors and allowed 10 unearned runs in the series. Shortstop Pete Kozma’s second gaffe of the seven-game set and overall shaky defense was a focal point of a Cardinals team that simply gave too many extra outs to the Giants. Center fielder Jon Jay contributed a run to the opponent’s cause with an error on Hunter Pence’s screaming double.
San Francisco received 5.2 quality innings from Matt Cain on Monday night. The ace shut out St. Louis, giving up five hits and one walk, while striking out four. He did so on a night where largely ineffective breaking pitches took a backseat to up-in-the-zone fastballs—the kind that have hampered opposing hitters for Cain’s entire career.
It was purely a gutsy effort without his best stuff, one that enabled him to become just the second pitcher ever with two victories in series-deciding games in the same postseason.
On the offensive side of the ball, the G-Men lit up starter Kyle Lohse for five runs through just the first two frames. They continued the barrage against the Cardinals’ vaunted bullpen for four more, capped off by Brandon Belt’s soaring home run to right field in the eight inning.
Once again, Marco Scutaro—named MVP of this NLCS—contributed in stellar fashion with a 3-for-4 effort. He tied an LCS record with 14 hits, batting an incredible .500 for the series and continually going to right field and advancing runners. Most impressive was his sixth multi-hit game against the Cardinals that established a new LCS record.
Every Giants starter—Cain included—recorded a hit. Buster Posey and Pence, the struggling Nos. 4 and 5 hitters, had three hits and two RBI between them. Pence’s two-run double was particularly exciting when television replays showed that his bat actually struck the ball three different times upon shattering off a Joe Kelly fastball. Posey scored all the way from first as a result of Jay’s error in center.
The Giants’ remarkable bullpen in their own right sealed the win after Cain departed. Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo pitched the final three and one-third innings and completed the dominating shutout.
In taking the concluding game of the NLCS, the Giants tied an MLB record by winning six elimination games en route to baseball’s Mecca. They now square off against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday in a quest for the title.
Said series MVP Scutaro: “We’re going to the World Series, this is unbelievable.”