Late Home Run Boosts Braves to Victory Over Giants

SAN FRANCISCO Y3HOO – Back in another lifetime Rick Ankiel authored one of the more bizarre chapters in playoff history when he stood on the pitcher’s mound and threw pitch after pitch that seemed to hit everything but the catcher’s glove.

On a late Friday night, 10 years later, Ankiel bookended that memory with one that will be much more cherished, blasting an 11th-inning home run into McCovey Cove that lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants and evened their National League Division series at one game apiece.

It was a devastating defeat for the Giants, who blew a four-run lead, and saw the Braves tie the score with three runs in the eighth against their usually impervious bullpen.

San Francisco also wasted myriad scoring opportunities, particularly in the 10th inning when Buster Posey hit into a 5-4-3 double play with one out and the bases loaded.

“That’s a tough loss, no getting around it,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “But you have to bounce back.”

The teams travel to Atlanta for Game 3 on Sunday. It will no doubt be a more delightful trip for the Braves, who managed their rally without Manager Bobby Cox, who became the third manager to be ejected in the playoffs, when he was ejected for arguing a call at first base in the second inning.

The Braves, who won a major-league best 25 games in their final at-bat, added another, thanks to Ankiel, who called the hit the biggest of his career.

Ankiel, after his promising pitching career disintegrated, returned to the minor leagues and went about remaking his career as an outfielder. He belted 25 home runs for St. Louis in 2008, and his strong throwing arm did not betray him in the outfield. But over the winter, he signed a free agent contract with Kansas City.

“It’s hard to describe or put into words,” Ankiel said. “To be honest with you, I wanted to from the batter’s box to the dugout. I didn’t want to run the bases. I wanted to be with the guys. But what a cool way to win.”

Not so cool was Pablo Sandoval, the Giants’ fun-loving, free-swinging third baseman who has endeared himself to baseball fans here for his carefree approach to the game. But those panda masks that dot the crowd at AT&T Park – Sandoval was dubbed Kung-Fu Panda by teammate Barry Zito – might have come in handy Friday night to cover his face.

After nearly taking out Posey, the Giants star rookie catcher, when the two heavyweights collided going after a foul pop-up, Sandoval’s eighth-inning throwing error opened the door for Atlanta to get back in the series, which the Braves did by tying the score one batter later on Alex Gonzalez’s two-run double to left field off Giants closer Brian Wilson.

Until then, the Giants seemed in control. Pat Burrell belted a three-run homer in the first off Atlanta starter Tommy Hanson, and pitcher Matt Cain – a .106 hitter during the season – singled in another, matching his runs batted in total from the season.

Cain was not nearly as dominant as Tim Lincecum, who struck out 14 in a two-hit, 1-0 shutout in Game 1, but he allowed only an unearned run in six and two-thirds innings.

The Giants bullpen was an unlikely culprit. It had finished the season with 24 consecutive scoreless innings, but perhaps with Lincecum’s complete game and three other days off, the Giants relievers lost some precision.

Derek Lee and McCann led off the eighth with singles, putting runners at the corners and prompting Bochy to summon Wilson, the quirky bearded closer. Melky Cabrera hit a slow roller to third, but third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s throw to first pulled Aubrey Huff off the bag.

After Brooks Conrad bunted the runners over, Alex Gonzalez laced a double in the left-center field gap and in shocking fashion the Braves had tied the score, 4-4. Wilson prevented further damage by retiring Ankiel on a fly ball and striking out pinch hitter Matt Diaz.

The Braves then had to survive a harrowing 10th inning. With Troy Glaus, who had played two innings at third base all season, pinch hitter Edgar Renteria dropped a bunt down the third base line that the lumbering Glaus fell trying to pick up. Barely noticed on the play was that Braves closer Billy Wagner grabbed his left side, apparently in some discomfort.

But when Andres Torres bunted Renteria to second, Wagner crumpled after throwing him out, and had to leave the game, slowly walking off the mound wincing. After the game, it was announced that Wagner, who has announced his retirement after the season, strained his left oblique muscle and is out for the remainder of the series.

Farnsworth replaced Wagner, and after hitting Freddy Sanchez, and walking Aubrey Huff to load the bases, he got Posey to hit a grounder to Glaus who instead of going home, threw to second baseman Omar Infante, who turned the double play.

That Ankiel and Farnsworth delivered clutch performances is not surprising. The duo, who was acquired from Kansas City at the July 31 trading deadline, are the latest Atlanta players who have been called on to step up.

The Braves led the National League East for most of the season, but when August rolled around, the Phillies got hot and the Braves got injured. They lost their leader, Chipper Jones, and their All-Star infielder Martin Prado for the season, and pitchers Jair Jurgens and Takashi Saito have been unable to return for the playoffs.

“You can never figure out baseball for sure,” Cox said. “But I was telling our guys before the game, you know, win this one, the momentum swings the other way.”

“Well, that is Pablo,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’re not going to change Pablo. Sure, at times we would like him to show a little bit more discipline, but that’s’ who he is. He’s had success, but he’s also had struggles at times when he does go too far outside the strike zone.”

nytimes.com