In a pitching-heavy series with baserunners always at a premium, the San Francisco Giants maximized their opportunities Monday night and moved on to the next round with a 3-2 victory over the Braves in Game 4 of the NL Division Series.
The Giants scored their three runs on their first three hits of the game, notching the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh on two of those hits and two walks.
Giants rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner pitched six solid innings—allowing two runs and striking out five—and the San Francisco bullpen took care of the rest, despite a ninth-inning scare. Brian Wilson retired Melky Cabrera on a ground ball to third with the potential tying and winning runs on base.
This is the Giants’ first postseason series victory since advancing to the World Series in 2002, when they lost to the Angels. They’ll face the Phillies in the NLCS; that series opens Saturday in Philadelphia.
The game also marked the end of the storied managing career of Braves skipper Bobby Cox, who announced long ago that the 2010 campaign would be his last. Cox finished with a career record of 2,504-2,001 in the regular season and is second all-time with 66 career postseason wins.
For the only time in the series, the Braves managed to score before the sixth inning Monday, and with the way starter Derek Lowe was throwing—he took a no-hitter into the sixth—it looked like one run might be enough. Omar Infante led off the third with a single, moved to second on a single by Matt Diaz, to third on a flyout to right by Derrek Lee and home on a sacrifice fly by Brian McCann.
The teams traded wall-scraping solo home runs in the sixth. Cody Ross hit a line drive to left field that broke up Lowe's no-hitter and tied the game 1-1. The tie didn’t last long, as McCann led off the Braves’ half of the inning with a liner—not stung quite as harshly as Ross’ drive—that barely cleared the wall in right field.
The Giants took the lead for good in the seventh on those two hits and two walks, and with a significant boost from Braves shortstop Alex Gonzalez's throwing error.
Read more: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/feed/2010-10/giantsbraves-168936/story/san-francisco-giants-top-atlanta-braves-advance-to-nlcs#ixzz127Ey9dDE
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