San Francisco Giants walk-off to the World Series

If the Cardinals hadn’t had to go the bullpen in the eighth they might have had a chance. Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright was dealing through the seventh inning.

He’d held the San Francisco Giants to just two runs in the third inning on a two run shot to right off the bat of Joe Panik. It scored Gregor Blanco from first who had singled in the previous at-bat. At the time this homer put the Giants ahead 2-1.

Oct 16, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning of game five of the 2014 NLCS playoff at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinals had scored a run in their half of the third inning off of Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner. With guys on first and second with one out, Jon Jay hit an RBI double, plating catcher Tony Cruz.

St. Louis hit a pair of solo shots off of Bumgarner in the top of the fourth inning. Both Matt Adam and Tony Cruz took Bumgarner deep to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Cardinals.

After that there wasn’t anymore scoring until the bottom of the eighth inning. Wainwright had pitched through the seventh but had already thrown 97 pitches (61 of which were for strikes) so manager Mike Matheny brought in Pat Neshek to face pinch-hitter Michael Morse. Morse took Neshek deep, tying the game, on just his third pitch of the night, an 83 mph change up.

Neshek then retired the side but the damage had already been done and the game was tied at three all.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy brought in closer Santiago Casilla, replacing Bumgarner who pitched through eight innings allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. The Giants’ ace threw 92 pitches, 78 of them for strikes before giving way too Casilla.