San Francisco Giants: Petit and an Offensive Explosion Make for Big Game 4 Win

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In a game that looked like San Francisco Giants would lose and fall down three games to one early on, the offense came alive in the bottom of the fifth to start a huge three inning offensive explosion scoring 11 runs in a 11-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

It was a strong start for Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong who, in the first two innings, only gave up two hits and had an early 1-0 lead going into the top third. At that point he had gotten two easy outs  and had a runner at second before the wheels began to fall off for Vogelsong and the Giants defense.

That was when Vogelsong gave up an infield hit to Lorenzo Cain, a misplayed a routine groundout play on a Eric Hosmer, and an infield single that allowed Alex Gordon to score who had grounded into a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning and stole second during Cain’s at bat.

To follow up Hosmer’s at bat Vogelsong walked Mike Moustakas to load the bases with two-outs for Omar Infante who blasted a two-run single to center that made it 3-1 Royals in the 3rd. Vogelsong stayed in to face Salvador Perez hoping to get out of the jam but could not do so and instead gave up an RBI single that made it 4-1 Royals. This ended Vogelsong’s night and Jean Machi came on relief to face Jarrod Dyson.

Machi ended up walking Dyson and created another two-out  bases loaded situation with pitcher Jason Vargas at the plate for the second time on the inning. Machi got Vargas to strikeout and limit the damage to three runs in the inning.

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In the bottom of the third the San Francisco Giants answered back with three hits, one of which was an RBI double by Buster Posey to cut the Royals lead down to 4-2. Hunter Pence would also get a hit giving Pablo Sandoval a chance to hit with two runners on with two outs. But Sandoval struck out swinging to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth Yusmeiro Petit came in to try and quiet the Royals offense to keep the Giants within striking distance to come back for a win. Petit did his job with a three up, three down inning silencing Kansas City’s 1-2-3 batters. In the bottom half of the inning the Giants threatened to score by getting singles from Juan Perez and Petit but could not get a runner home.

Petit continued to pitch in the fifth with another strong inning despite giving up a leadoff double to Hosmer by getting two infield popouts and a strikeout. Petit once again held the deficit to 4-2 going into the bottom of the fifth.

To lead off the bottom half of the inning was Joe Panik who smacked a double off Vargas into right center field and ultimately knocked Vargas out of the game. The Royals brought in relief pitcher, Jason Frasor, whose first batter Posey grounded out to third. He would proceed to give up and RBI single to Pence to make it 4-3 Royals with one out and a runner on.

Frasor was quickly relieved by Danny Duffy. Duffy would not fare any better giving up single to Sandoval that moved Pence over to third. Then Duffy walked Brandon Belt to load the bases with one out for Perez who almost dropped in a single but would get a sacrifice fly instead to tie the game at four. Duffy then finally ended the inning by striking out Brandon Crawford.

Once again Petit came out to pitch in the top of the sixth and have another three up, three down inning by getting Nori Aoki to ground into a double play after giving up a leadoff single to Dyson, then ended the inning on long flyout by Alcides Escobar. This would end Petit’s night as Joaquin Arias came into the game to pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the sixth with Jeremy Affeldt warming up in the bullpen to come in for the seventh.

The Royals brought in their reliever Brandon Finnegan to pitch the bottom half of the inning, which was started by Arias with a single to right. That was followed by another single by Gregor Blanco.Panik came in and laid down a perfect bunt down the third baseline to advance the runners to second and third. Finnegan then intentionally walked Posey to get to Pence with the hopes of inducing a double play ball.

However, Pence grounded into a fielder’s choice with Arias being thrown out at the plate. This left the bases loaded for Sandoval to bat with one out in the inning. Sandoval knocked a base hit into center that scored two runs and gave the San Francisco Giants a 6-4 lead with two outs in the sixth. Next was Belt who got an RBI single to make the Giants lead 7-4 over the Royals. But Finnegan would get out of it on a ground out by Perez and limit the damage to three runs.

In the seventh Royals brought in Tim Collins to try and quiet the Giants offense. Collins would not be successful by letting Crawford lead off the inning with an infield single. That was quickly followed by a walk to Michael Morse and a bunt single by Blanco which scored another run on a bad throw to first to make it 8-4 Giants with no outs in the seventh. Then,after doubles from Panik and Pence later in the inning, the Giants took a commanding 11-4 lead over the Royals.

To close out the game on came Hunter Strickland to face the top of the order for the Royals on the ninth. Strickland started the inning with a strikeout to Escobar and double to Gordon. But, he would hunker down and get his next to batters to seal the victory for the Giants.

With the series now tied at two games apiece both teams look to their aces in game five tomorrow night in a repeat of game one with Madison Bumgarner pitching for the San Francisco Giants and James Shields pitching for the Royals.