The Giants Scratch Out an Extra Inning Win to Stay Alive

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The Giants could do nothing with Homer Bailey and very little with anyone else but Ryan Vogelsong and the San Francisco bullpen held the fort until they caught a break.

San Francisco had just one hit and three base runners total through nine innings but Vogelsong survived a rocky first that included an aggresive base running play by Brandon Phillips that backfired.

Phillips led off the first with a single up the middle.  As he stole second base, Vogelsong threw the ball over catcher Buster Posey's head.  Phillips wanted to get to third and took off.  The ball bounced back to Posey and he nailed Phillips at third for the first out.

"It was an aggressive play by Brandon," Dusty Baker said.  "We had other chances early in the game though.  Brandon thought he could make it but it bounced right back to Buster Posey. It doesn't weigh on my mind.  Brandon is a heads-up baseball player."

Zack Cozart walked.  After Joey Votto flied to left, Ryan Ludwick and Jay Bruce singled back-to-back to score Cozart.  That was all the Reds could muster off Vogelsong.  The had a pair of two-out baserunners in the third but Bruce flied out to end the threat.  The had the same scenario off former teammate, Jeremy Affeldt, in the sixth but Ryan Hanigan grounded out.

Homer Bailey had no-hit stuff but a brief stretch of wildness allowed the Giants to tie the game.  Bailey hit Gregor Blanco to open the third.  He walked Brandon Crawford, the next batter.  Vogelsong bunted them along.  Angel Pagan hit a fly ball deep enough to centerfield to allow Blanco to trot home.

Bailey struck out a career-high tying 10, including six in a row.  The last Reds' pitcher to fan six in a row in the postseason was Hod Eller in the 1919 World Series.  Marco Scutaro got the only hit off Bailey with a two out single in the sixth.

But Vogelsong, Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo blanked the Reds.  After the sixth inning, the Reds put one runner on base when Votto walked in the eighth.

Sean Marshall and Aroldis Chapman pitched clean innings and turned the game over to Jonathan Broxton.

Buster Posey, the NL batting champion, singled to become just the fourth Giant baserunner.  Hunter Pence, limping with a cramp, singled through the hole at shortstop.  Broxton whiffed Brandon Belt and Xavier Nady.  With Joaquin Arias batting, Hanigan was charged with a passed ball.  With two strikes Arias topped a ball to third.  Scott Rolen, who has earned eight Gold Gloves in his career, bobbled the in-between hop and couldn't recover in time to throw out Arias as Posey scored the winning run.

"It was a tough play.  The ball came up on him at the last minute.  This guy (Rolen) is one of the best.  You have to give the baserunner credit for hustling down the line at the same time.  Most guys are out on that ball.  That was just a series of bad events.  I thought we got out of it, then the wild pitch (passed ball), then the error."

Romo finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.  The Giants still have their backs to the wall.

"We were in the dugout telling each other to keep pushing, keep pushing," Pence said.  "We came together until we got the break we needed. We had some inspirational performances by our pitchers.  That is the embodiement of a team.  It doesn't matter how many you have to win in a row.  We're doing anything we can to win each day."

Pagan is not quitting either.

"I'm not ready to book my flight to Puerto Rico.  We didn't come here not to get swept.  We came here to win three in a row."

Professionally edited by ML Schirmer

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