FINAL SCORE: Giants def. Cardinals, 5-4 (Giants lead series, 2-1)
The San Francisco Giants watched Kolten Wong walk-off Game 2 of the NLCS in St. Louis.
On Tuesday, the Giants flipped the script on the Cardinals, as they pushed across the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning on a throwing error by reliever Randy Choate.
The Giants jumped out to an early lead with four first-inning runs off starting pitcher John Lackey, with Hunter Pence (RBI double) and Travis Ishikawa (three-run double) delivering the big blows in the frame.
However, Lackey would bounce back after the shaky start to turn in five consecutive scoreless innings. After giving up four hits in the first inning, Lackey allowed just one knock the rest of the way—a single to Tim Hudson in the fourth—before giving way to Marco Gonzales in the seventh.
Hudson kept the Cardinals off the board until the fourth inning, when red-hot rookie Kolten Wong delivered a two-run double to cut the lead in half.
St. Louis added another run in the sixth inning on a single by Jhonny Peralta, and then Randal Grichuk tied the game with a solo home run off Hudson with one out in the seventh, ending the veteran right-hander’s afternoon.
Hudson allowed four runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings and struck out five batters in his first career LCS start.
The Giants managed just two baserunners against Cardinal pitchers after the first inning before Brandon Crawford coaxed a leadoff walk against Randy Choate to open the 10th. The next batter, Juan Perez, blew two consecutive bunt attempts but came through with a single to left field, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
Gregor Blanco followed Perez with a sacrifice bunt toward the third base line, but Choate’s overthrow of first baseman Matt Adams, which sent the ball far up the right field line, allowed Crawford to score the game-winning run.
The NLCS continues tomorrow with Game 4 at 8 p.m. ET in San Francisco, as Ryan Vogelsong will attempt to put the Giants within one game of another trip to the World Series. Shelby Miller is expected to start for the Cardinals.
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