ST. LOUIS — During a 2014 postseason in which road teams are enjoying more success than home teams, the San Francisco Giants tried to get greedy Sunday night in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Rallying from 2-0 and 4-3 deficits, the Giants grabbed a brief 3-2 lead in the seventh, then evened the score in bizarre fashion in the ninth on a two-out wild pitch by St. Louis Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal that plated pinch runner Matt Duffy all the way from second base.
However, the Cardinals kept hitting solo homers, four to be exact, and finally beat San Francisco when Kolten Wong lined a tasty Sergio Romo changeup into the seats in right. However, San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy didn’t project the image of a disappointed manager after the game.
“A great game, two good teams going at it,” he said. “We had a couple of good comebacks there, but the long ball got us. It was a hard-fought game, and it is going to be a hard-fought series. Two teams played really hard tonight.”
Road teams are 11-9 this postseason, so in theory, the Giants might be at a disadvantage with the next three in the series set for AT&T Park. However, their pitcher-friendly environment usually suppresses the long balls that have surprisingly fueled the St. Louis offense this October.
It also is very likely that Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina might not be around for the series’ remainder after straining a left oblique muscle Sunday night. A similar injury usually forces players onto the 15-day disabled list in the regular season.
When the series shifts to San Francisco, two veterans will get the ball. Thirty-nine-year-old Giants right-hander Tim Hudson, who is set for his first League Championship Series appearance, will face off against 35-year-old Cardinals right-hander John Lackey, a World Series winner with the Anaheim Angels in 2002 and the Boston Red Sox last year.
Hudson has pitched well in 11 postseason starts but has just a 1-3 record to show it, the victim of poor run support. He worked Game 2 of the NL Division Series in Washington, allowing just one run on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings as the Giants beat the Nationals 2-1 in 18 innings. Hudson pitched seven shutout innings June 1 in an 8-0 win over St. Louis in Busch Stadium.
Lackey is coming off a 3-1 win Oct. 6 in NLDS Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when he fanned eight in a seven-inning outing that saw him allow only five hits and a run. Lackey is 7-5 with a 2.92 ERA in 20 playoff appearances, and he leads all active pitchers with 111 postseason innings.