With a pitching match-up between Adam Wainwright and Madison Bumgarner you could have expected a low scoring game, and that is exactly what happened in game one of the NLCS. The Giants were the fortunate ones tonight as they were able to get to Wainwright early in the game.
San Francisco scored two runs in the top of the 2nd inning coming on a bloop hit to left field by Travis Ishikawa that scored Pablo Sandoval and then later in the inning, a fielding error by Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter on a ball hit by Gregor Blanco allowed Hunter Pence to score.
The only other run in the game was produced by a sacrifice fly by Brandon Belt that scored Buster Posey in the top of the 3rd inning.
Adam Wainwright couldn’t get into a groove in this game, he pitched only 4.2 innings gave up 6 hits, 3 runs (2 ER), 3 walks, and only two strikeouts. The Giants did a very nice job to make him work very early in the game as Wainwright threw 98 pitches in his 4.2 innings pitched and many of those pitches were of high stress.
Wainwright’s counterpart, Madison Bumgarner had a fantastic game in which he went 7.2 innings, giving up only 4 hits and 0 runs, with only 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. The MadBum was on cruise control throughout the game, even though it seemed like the Cardinals were in the game only being down three runs and a rally away from tying or possibly taking the lead, Bumgarner made sure to not give the Cardinals any hope as he didn’t get in any huge mess.
The best shot the St. Louis got to get some runs off of Bumgarner was in the bottom of the 7th inning when Tony Cruz struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning.
The San Francisco Giants have now won 7 straight road postseason games and 12 out of their last 13 postseason games overall.
Tomorrow’s pitching match-up will feature Jake Peavy (Postseason: 1-0, 0.00 ERA) versus Lance Lynn (Postseason: 0-0, 3.00 ERA).
Peavy is coming off a very impressive performance in the nation’s capital against the Washington Nationals, game in which he took the victory and pitched 5.2 shutout innings. He last faced the Cardinals in last year’s world series when he was a member of the Boston Red Sox. Peavy pitched game 3 of that world series and took a no-decision.
Lance Lynn last pitched in game 2 of the NLDS, a game that the Cardinals eventually lost in the late innings. Lynn received a no-decision in that start, but he did a very good job of keeping his team in the game and gave the Cardinals a chance to win.
Look for this game to be a tougher test for Peavy as he will face a more experienced and well rounded team in the Cardinals, add the fact that the Cardinals will fiercely try to avoid falling behind 2-0 in the series.
Photo Credit: Jeff Curry, USA TODAY Sports
