Giants, A’s stay alive, trail 1-2 in playoffs
CINCINNATI Ð The San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics pulled out the wins they needed on Tuesday to stay alive in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
The Bay Area rivals both put on impressive defensive displays, with the Giants edging the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, in 10 innings while the A’s beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0. That cut the deficit in their respective best-offive division series to 2-1.
Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen made an error with two outs in the 10th inning to gift San Francisco the all-important victory.
Rolen, an eight-time Gold Glove winner for fielding excellence, couldn’t come up with Joaquin Arias’ short-hop grounder, bobbled it and threw late to first, allowing the winning run to score.
The Reds still haven’t won a home playoff game since 1995, the last time they reached the National League championship series.
The Giants managed only three hits all game, but got two of them in the 10th Ð along with a passed ball Ð to pull out a victory. San Francisco won despite striking out 16 times.
Cincinnati finished with four hits, just one after the first inning. Brandon Phillips led off with a single, but was thrown out at third when he tried to advance on a ball that got away from Giants catcher Buster Posey. The Reds went on to score on a walk and a pair of singles, including Jay Bruce’s RBI.
Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey made his first start at Great American Ball Park since his Sept. 28 no-hitter in Pittsburgh and allowed only one hit in seven innings.
Fortunately for the Giants, Bailey’s one lapse led to a run. He hit a batter, walked another and gave up a sacrifice fly by Angel Pagan in the third inning which tied the game.
It stayed 1-1 until the 10th. With two outs, Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan couldn’t come up with a pitch, letting the runners advance. Arias’ grounder then put Rolen in a tough spot Ð charging the ball for a quick short-hop swipe. He couldn’t come up with it cleanly, and Arias beat the throw to first as the runner made it home.
“I’ve gone through the play many times in my mind between then and now, and I would play it the same way,” Rolen said. “It hit my glove. I just couldn’t get it to stick.”
Left-hander Barry Zito will pitch Game 4 on Wednesday for the Giants, who have won the past 11 times he started. The Reds have to decide whether to try ace Johnny Cueto, forced out of the opener in San Francisco on Saturday with spasms in his back and side.
Switching out Cueto would leave the Reds ace ineligible to pitch in the championship series should the Reds get that far.