NLCS Game 2: Injured Scutaro Leads The Way For The Giants in 7-1 Win Over St.Louis

Oct 15, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro (19) hits a three-run single during the fourth inning of game two of the 2012 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT

Just as Marco Scutaro was clobbered by Matt Holliday at second base while trying to turn a first inning double play, the energy was sucked out of the rowdy AT&T Park crowd, and eventually turned into bold boos towards Holliday.  Scutaro sat on the ground for a few moments as the trainers examined his left leg, but he reluctantly popped up, and returned to second base. Yes, it was a dirty slide from Matt Holliday who was presumably trying to break up the double play and nothing more. After the game, he basically said that he hoped Scutaro was okay.

Scutaro, however, would soon get revenge the old fashioned way; with his bat. Before he answered, Angel Pagan sparked the Giants right out of the gate, crushing a lead-off home run from Cardinals’ starter Chris Carpenter. The Giants, who came into the game having not held a lead  through three playoff games this postseason, finally conquered that moral battle thanks to Pagan

The bottom half of the Giants’ lineup (Brandon Belt, Gregor Blanco, Brandon Crawford, and Ryan Vogelsong) collected four hits in the game, but no other stretch of hits was as crucial as the ones in the fifth inning. Belt reached on a double, and Blanco followed him with a single. Crawford hit a slow chopper down the first base line to initiate some chaos for the Cardinals, as Carpenter picked the ball up and threw wide to the first baseman, allowing Belt to score from third. Crawford also reached on the error.

One batter later, Pagan walked to load the bases up for Scutaro, and his injured left hip. Battling against Carpenter, Scutaro lined a blazing single through the left centerfield gap to score three runs, two earned. Holliday let the liner slither under his glove to allow the third run to score. Scutaro’s game-opening hit expanded San Francisco’s lead to four with the score up to 5-1.

While Scutaro and the questionable slide stole most of the headlines, Vogelsong did something that his fellow starting pitchers haven’t been able to do since the playoffs began over a week ago; he pitched at least six innings. Coming into Game 2, not one Giants’ starting pitcher reached the six inning. Vogelsong went seven strong, allowing just one run on four hits and four strikeouts.

Vogelsong escaped a mess in the first inning, stranding two runners. The Giants secured his first career postseason win by adding two runs in eighth inning on Ryan Theriot’s two-run single.

Scutaro stayed into the game until the fifth inning when he was pulled to get X-rays on his left hip.

The NLCS is now even at 1-1 as the series shifts to St. Louis on Wednesday for Game 3.