The San Francisco Giants rushed the mound as they swept their way to become the 2012 World Series champions in a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
It was an almost sure victory to close out the World Series until the Tigers found their offense in game four, challenging the Giants into overtime.
The Giants took the lead early in the top of the second with Hunter Pence getting a solid hit that bounced right over the outfield wall, which held him to a double. Brandon Belt then took the initiative and smacked a triple to score Pence, who brought in the first run for the Giants, making it a 1-0 ball game.
The Tigers answered in the bottom of the third with a walk to Gerald Laird, who was issued from starting pitcher Matt Cain. Quintin Barry attempted to lay down a bunt, but was thrown out while advancing Laird to third. Miguel Cabrera then stepped to the plate to do some damage against Cain, taking hold of the lead in a 1-2 game.
It wasn’t until the top of the sixth that the Giants were able to break down Tigers’ starting pitcher Max Scherzer with a base hit by Marco Scutaro. Buster Posey ended his hitting drought with a homerun to take back the lead from the Tigers in a 3-2 ball game.
With two outs at the start of the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers chased the Giants right back with a one-run homer by Delmon Young to tie up the game.
As closing pitchers took to the hill with Jeremy Affeldt for the Giants, and Phil Coke for the Tigers, it became a pitching duel late in the game. The top of the ninth consisted of three strikeouts from the Giants’ lineup for a quick one, two and three.
Affeldt held strong coming into the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout to Andy Dirks, but was taken a little too deeply by Jhonny Peralta. Santiago Casilla then stepped in to take over for the last out of the inning, but pelted Omar Infante in the hand with a high fastball inside to take him out of the game. Laird then grounded out for the third out as they headed into extra innings.
The Giants took no time taking advantage of their chance at bat with a base hit to right field from Ryan Theriot. Brandon Crawford did his job as he laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to advance Theriot to second. Scutaro singled to center to score Theriot who took hold of the lead for the rest of the game.
Sergio Romo dominated the mound to keep the Tigers from getting even a glimmer of hope in the bottom of the 10th. After Romo closed out the game with three strikeouts in a row, the Giants celebrated as they clinched the World Series title for the seventh time in their franchise history.