Bad throw on bunt has Giants in front
Once the San Francisco Giants finally got a bunt down, the rest was easy.
A wild throw by reliever Randy Choate on a bunt allowed Brandon Crawford to score the winning run in the 10th inning and lifted the host Giants past the St. Louis Cardinals 5- 4 on Tuesday for a 2- 1 lead in the National League Championship Series. Game4 is scheduled for Wednesday in San Francisco.
Crawford drew a walk from Choate to begin the inning, ending a stretch of 16 consecutive Giants retired since starting pitcher Tim Hudson’s two- out single in the fourth. After failing on two sacrifice attempts, Juan Perez singled to bring up Gregor Blanco.
Blanco fouled off a bunt try, too, before pushing one to the left side of the mound. The left- handed Choate fielded the ball, but his sidearm throw sailed past lunging second baseman Kolten Wong, who was covering first, enabling Crawford to score.
‘‘ He did exactly what I wanted him to do,’’ Choate said. ‘‘ It was easy. It was right there, and I blew it. The ball just sailed on me.’’
The victory came 12 years to the day that Kenny Lofton’s single in the ninth inning ended the 2002 NLCS against the Cardinals and sent the Giants to the World Series.
‘‘ We don’t do anything easy,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘ We might have got a little lucky there with Perez when he couldn’t get a bunt down and he gets a base hit. But Blanco laid down a beauty. ... I don’t knowif that’s luck as much as a great bunt.’’
Playing without injured catcher Yadier Molina ( strained left oblique), the Cardinals rallied from a 4- 0 deficit after one inning to tie the score on a solo home run by Randall Grichuk in the seventh. Former White Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski went 0- for- 4 in Molina’s place.
Travis Ishikawa hit a three- run double in the first to stake Hudson to a 4- 0 lead in his first postseason start beyond the Division Series in his 16- year career. Hudson pitched 6⅓ innings before leaving after yielding the tying homer to Grichuk.
Royals on brink of Series
Billy Butler drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals moved a victory away from the World Series with a 2- 1 triumph against the visiting Baltimore Orioles in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. The Royals lead the series 3- 0 and will go for the sweep in Game 4 at home Wednesday.
The Royals, who hadn’t reached the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985, are 7- 0 in the postseason. A big reason for that is their dominant bullpen, which didn’t allow a runner in four innings.
‘‘ Just trying to find a way to win each night, no matter what,’’ said Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, who tumbled into the stands to catch a foul ball in the sixth.
The Orioles took an early lead on back- to- back doubles by Steve Pearce and J. J. Hardy in the second, but the Royals tied the score on a bases- loaded groundout by Alex Gordon in the fourth.