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| Panik's run would be the difference. Photo Credit: Lance Iversen/ USA Today Sports |
Joe Panik scored the go ahead run for San Francisco in the 7th inning off of Aaron Barrett's wild pitch which led the Giants to a 3-2 win over the Nationals and advancing to the NLCS.
By: Michael Hanley
The Giants advance to play the Cardinals in the NLCS on Saturday in St. Louis for Game 1. It is a rematch of the 2012 NLCS in which San Francisco made a tremendous comeback rallying from a 3-1 deficit to win the series and go onto win their second World Series title in three seasons.
The Giants would get to Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez early as they were able to load up the bases and push a run across via a walk drawn by Gregor Blanco, which let Brandon Crawford score from third base and grab the early 1-0 lead. They played the game of small ball perfectly in this game as they knew runs would be hard to come by in this game.
San Francisco would again use small ball to score a run as Joe Panik grounded out to the second baseman for the Nationals, which got Perez home from third and made it 2-0 Giants. Gonzalez found himself getting into deep counts against the hitters which elevated his pitch count and broke the rhythm he had going early on. He would wind up only going four innings before Matt Williams pulled him and went to the bullpen. It finished what was a very up and down year for Gonzalez.
Washington would get on the board in the 5th inning as Bryce Harper would double home Ian Desmond, which made it 2-1 Giants. The Nationals had a chance to add more runs in the inning but Vogelsong shut them down completely and left Harper stranded at second base.
The Giants had a chance to blow the game open in the 5th inning when they had bases loaded and only out but Roark and Blevins for Washington shut the door on them and left the bases loaded and kept the team in the game at the time.
Ryan Vogelsong would exit after 5 2/3 innings giving the Giants a terrific start. He allowed only one run on two hits, walked two and struck out four. He was in command of all of his pitches as he was able to get into a real nice groove, setting down 10 National batters in a row at one point.This start made up for a September that saw him go winless with an 0-4 record.
Bryce Harper launched a towering home run shot into McCovey Cove that tied the game at two apiece in the 7th inning. It was a shot in the arm for the Nationals who were struggling to put together any consistent offense against the Giants pitching.
Unfortunately for them that would be the last run of any kind the Nationals would score for their 2014 season. They were only bale to threaten modestly in the 9th inning against Giants closer Santiago Casilla.
That threat was snuffed out through as Casilla was able to get the three outs and seal the victory and series win for San Francisco. It capped a series in which the Nationals could not generate the consistent runs they had been able to create on their way to a 96-66 record and an NL East crown in the regular season.
Hunter Pence would help his team out by making an outstanding catch in right field right up against the wall that took away a would be double away from Washington. It was one of those special plays that only spurs on a team to complete a big time postseason win and it would do just that.
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