Sergio Romo was not giving in, pumping strike after strike after strike before getting the stubborn Bruce on a fly to left.
Both The Reds and the San Francisco Giants had their backs against the wall. For San Francisco it lasted for three days. For Cincinnati it lasted for four excruciating, frustrating, yet exhilarating innings.
The Giants walked off the field with a 6-4 win but the score of the game is secondary to the struggle to get there.
No National League team had ever lost the first two games of the best-of-five division series at home and come back to win. That was the task facing the Giants. That was the task they accomplished over the last four innings, from holding on by their own fingernails to enduring a cornered opponent scratching and clawing to its last breath.
"This is what we live and we work for, its this moment," Hunter Pence said. "If you get
the job done or don't get the job done. It's moment to moment. You
give it everything you've got if you win, you win, not necessarily on
the scoreboard. I feel both teams won to night. It took a lot of
guts. The series was incredible. Only one teams move on."
Pence gave a speech in the dugout prior to the first game of the series in Cincinnati, Tuesday night.
"It was about see you tomorrow," Pence said, knowing a misstep would prevent the team from gathering anymore this year.
The starting pitchers Matt Cain for San Francisco and Mat Latos for Cincinnati, hooked up in a scoreless deadlock for four solid innings. Latos was the first to blink.
Latos missed on two close pitches to Gregor Blanco before the Giants' leftfielder slapped a single to left. Brandon Crawford drilled a pitch down the rightfield line. Blanco scored as Crawford sped to third. Angel Pagan hit a high chop with the infield in. Rookie Zack Cozart, who played a Gold Glove shortstop according to Scott Rolen, the owner of eight, dropped the chopper while preparing to throw home. Latos walked Marco Scutaro. Pablo Sandoval singled sharply to left to load the bases. Buster Posey, possibly the NL Most Valuable Player, hit a fastball into the leftfield stands.
Just that quickly it was 6-0.
The Reds' turn against the wall began. They started the comeback.
Ryan Hanigan was hit by a pitch by Cain. Drew Stubbs singled. Pinch hitter Chris Heisey popped foul to firstbase. Brandon Phillips doubled as both men scored. Joey Votto narrowly missed a single up the middle that Crawford fielded and turned into the inning-ending out.
Ryan Ludwick led off the sixth with a long home run. Bruce followed with a walk. Rolen singled. The Reds appeared to be breaking the door down. Hanigan worked the count to 3-2. The runners were moving on the full count. Hanigan took a called third strike and Posey threw to third to get Bruce. Stubbs grounded to short.
While the best bullpen in the league was keeping the Giants from adding to its lead, the Reds put two on with two outs in the seventh. Ludwick grounded a 3-2 pitch back to Jeremy Affeldt.
In the eighth Rolen singled with one out. Hanigan lined to short but Crawford dived to catch the ball. Pinch hitter Todd Frazier singled. Dusty Baker send Dioner Navarro to bat for Jonathan Broxton. Navarro hit a line fly to shallow center. Pagan made a diving catch.
The Reds faced a 6-3 deficit in the ninth. Phillips popped foul to Brandon Belt at firstbase. Cozart walked. Votto singled to right. Ludwick singled to left to score Cozart. Bruce stepped in against Romo.
Bruce fell behind 0-2, he fouled off pitches until the count ran full but the fly to left ended in a victory for Romo and the Giants. Rolen in perhaps his last at bat in the big leagues struck out swinging.
"It was a battle," Romo said. "It was a battle of will power. He's a good hitter.
He got a lot of good hits for his team. I had my teammates in my
mind. I thought, he's not going to get it off me. We're moving on.
We got it done."
Dusty Baker told the team he was proud of them.
"We had the tying run at the plate in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth," Baker said. "We couldn't come up with the big hit. It was disheartening to have my club go through this. I'm proud of the way we fought until the end. That at bat that Jay Bruce had was unbelievable. That was sheer determination. You've got to work a little harder this winter and this is going to take a while for this to heal but everything heals. Sometimes you just get tired of disappointments."
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| Professionally edited by ML Schirmer for proofreading services call 513-240-3120 |
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