NLCS: Giants defeat Cardinals 3-0 behind Bumgarner

The San Francisco Giants got lucky again. They were lucky in their game four win in the National League Division Series and they caught a huge break in the seventh inning of game one of the NLCS. That break changed the momentum of the game.

Don’t get me wrong. The Giants scored three runs and their ace Madison Bumgarner was stellar, keeping the St. Louis Cardinals scoreless through eight innings. But there was a play in the seventh inning that still is highly questionable.

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The Giants got their runs early off of Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright. In the top of the second inning a double by Pablo Sandoval and singles by Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt set up an RBI single by Travis Ishikawa that plated Sandoval.

A fielding error by Cardinals’ third baseman Matt Carpenter allowed Pence to score, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead going into the next inning. In the top of the third the Giants got singles from Buster Posey and Sandoval to lead off the inning. Pence advanced the runners on a ground ball force out to second baseman Kolten Wong.

This set the Giants up to score their third and ultimately what would be the last run scored in the game. Brandon Belt hit a one-out sacrifice fly to Jon Jay in center field that plated Posey, giving the Giants the 3-0 lead that would allow them to win game one of the National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals finally got something going against Bumgarner in the seventh inning. It could have been what people have been calling their “seventh inning magic.” The Cardinals scored 13 of their 18 NLDS runs in the seventh inning but not Saturday.

Matt Adams flied out to lead off the inning but Bumgarner gave up back to back hits to Yadier Molina and Jay. Kolten Wong grounded out to Belt who relayed the ball to Bumgarner at first. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny challenged the tag on the play but the call on the field was upheld.

Matheny lost his only challenge of the game, which ultimately led to the incident that kept the Cardinals from getting on the board in the seventh with at least one run, possibly more.

With the runners now on second and third and two out, Bumgarner committed a balk, on a 2-2 pitch to pinch-hitter Tony Cruz. He was clearly in his set position and walked to his right almost off the mound. Take a look at the video below.

Unfortunately, a balk was not called. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy and Bumgarner both maintain that the ace took a step back before walking towards third, which is allowed.

“I know it looked funny there, but it’s a quick step back, and you’re allowed to do that.” said Bochy.

Bumgarner admitted that it was a close call but maintained that he did take a step back,

“I was about to deliver the pitch, and I thought I may be getting ready to cross Buster [Posey] up, and obviously you don’t want to do that,” Bumgarner said. “So I stepped off. But it was right before I was getting ready to deliver. It was close, no doubt about it. I can see why [the Cardinals] may have a problem with it, but in my mind, I don’t think that I balked.”

Matheny talked about the balk after the game and said that it completely changed the game’s momentum, which if it actually was a balk it would have. The Cardinals would have gotten on the board and a new runner would have advanced to third base.

“We don’t necessarily put a star by the seventh inning or anything else,” Matheny said. “We just know that we stay the course, and we needed somebody to come up big there and get a big hit for us, and Bumgarner was good today. He kept us from having that big inning.”

Ultimately, the Cardinals did not get their chance at a big seventh inning and were shutdown by Bumgarner in the eighth and closer Santiago Casilla in the ninth.

The Giants won by the score of 3-0. The Giants got lucky yet again and now lead the NLCS by one game. The National League Division Series continues Sunday at 8:00 pm ET on TBS.

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