The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 to win game five of their NL Division Series matchup, and win the series three games to two.
This game came down to one inning: the fifth. Mat Latos pitched relatively well over the first four innings, allowing just three singles and no runs to the Giants offense. But in the fifth, the wheels came off with a vengeance. Gregor Blanco led the inning off with a single against Latos, and Brandon Crawford followed that up with a triple to make it 1-0 in favor of the Giants. After a groundout by Matt Cain, Zach Cozart butchered a grounder hit by Angel Pagan, allowing Crawford to score to make it 2-0. Latos then walked Marco Scutaro and allowed a single to Pablo Sandoval to load the bases for Buster Posey…who hit a monstrous grand slam on a 2-2 pitch. Bam, 6-0 Giants.
San Francisco did nothing offensively for the rest of the game. They put a runner on in each of the eighth and ninth innings with singles, and got nothing. The Reds bullpen did their job, and quite frankly, Latos did his job too…outside of the fifth inning.
Matt Cain also had a difficult game. In the bottom of the fifth, staked to a 6-0 lead, he started to falter. He hit Ryan Hanigan to lead off the inning, and then allowed a single to Drew Stubbs. Brandon Phililps doubled both runners home to make it 6-2, but he was stranded on second to end the inning. The Reds had another great chance to score in the sixth. Ryan Ludwick led off with a solo homer to make it a 6-3 game, and Jay Bruce followed with a walk before a Scott Rolen single. With two on and none out, Cain struck out Hanigan and Posey threw out Bruce to snuff out a prime scoring threat for the Reds.
And that's how the rest of the day for the Reds offense went. Down three in the seventh, they put men on first and second for Ludwick with two outs, and he tapped back to the mound to end the inning. In the eighth, they had men on first and second with two outs for Dioner Navarro, and he hit a sinking liner to center that Angel Pagan made a great catch on to end a fantastic scoring chance for the Reds. Finally in the ninth, the Reds put two more on with one out for Ryan Ludwick, who singled home Cozart to make it 6-4, only to see Jay Bruce fly out after an epic 12 pitch at bat and Rolen strike out swinging to end Cincinnati's season.
Cincinnati's offense was brutal today. They went 2/13 with runners in scoring position, and stranded 11 runners. They had no one to blame but themselves, because the Reds had opportunities to put runs on the board in each of the last FIVE INNINGS of the game. They scored four over those five innings, stranded eight, and had one runner thrown out on the bases. It was pretty much a nightmare on every level for the Reds and their fans. As for the Giants, they took advantage of one bad inning from Latos, and they managed to hang on. Hats off to them.
San Francisco will move on to the NL Championship Series, taking on either the Cardinals or Nationals. Game one will be on Sunday, and it will either be in San Francisco or Washington.
