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Detroit • Smart pitching. Clutch hitting. Sharp fielding. Plus an MVP Panda.
All the right elements for a sweet World Series sweep for the San Francisco Giants.
Nearly knocked out in the playoffs time and time again, and finally pressed by the Detroit Tigers in Game 4, Pablo Sandoval and the Giants clinched their second title in three seasons Sunday night.
Marco Scutaro — who else? — delivered one more key hit this October, a go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning that lifted the Giants to a 4-3 win.
"Detroit probably didn't know what it was in for," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "Our guys had a date with destiny."
On a night of biting cold, stiff breezes and some rain, the Giants combined the most important elements of championship baseball. After three straight wins that looked relatively easy, they sealed this victory when Sergio Romo got Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to look at strike three for the final out.
"Tonight was a battle," Giants star Buster Posey said. "And I think tonight was a fitting way for us to end it because those guys played hard. They didn't stop, and it's an unbelievable feeling."
They built toward this party all month, winning six elimination games this postseason. In the clubhouse, they hoisted the trophy, passed it around and shouted the name of each player who held it.
"World Series champions!" Giants outfielder Hunter Pence hollered.
A total team triumph.
"When pitching is your strength, you want a good defense," manager Bruce Bochy said. "That shows up every day. ... Hitting sometimes, it comes and goes. But as long as you can stay in more games, the better chance you have of winning them, and that's how we play."
Benched during the 2010 Series, Sandoval, nicknamed Kung Fu Panda, went 8-for-16, including a three-homer performance in Game 1.
"You learn," Sandoval said. "You learn from everything that happened in your career. ... We're working hard to enjoy this moment right now."
Cabrera delivered the first big hit for Detroit, interrupting San Francisco's run of dominant pitching with a two-run homer that blew over the right-field wall in the third.
Posey put the Giants ahead 3-2 with a two-run homer in the sixth, and Delmon Young hit a tying home run in the bottom half.
It then became a matchup of bullpens, and the Giants prevailed.
Ryan Theriot led off the 10th with a single against Phil Coke, moved up on Brandon Crawford's sacrifice and scored on a shallow single by Scutaro, the MVP of the NL championship series. Center fielder Austin Jackson made a throw home, to no avail.
"That's what makes it so much special, the way we did it," Scutaro said. "We're always against the wall and my team, it just came through first series, second series and now we sweep the Tigers."
Romo struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for his third save of the Series.
The Giants finished the month with seven straight wins and their seventh Series championship. They handed the Tigers their seventh straight World Series loss dating to 2006.
"Obviously, there was no doubt about it. They swept us," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "So there was certainly no bad breaks, no fluke.
"Simple, they did better than we did," he said. "It was freaky. I would have never guessed we would have swept the Yankees and I would have never guessed the Giants would have swept us."
The Giants combined for a 1.42 ERA, outscored the Tigers 16-6 and held them to a .159 batting average. —
Giants 4, Tigers 3 (10)
R Marco Scutaro drives in Ryan Theriot for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning to lift the Giants to their second World Series title in three years.
• Closer Sergio Romo strikes out the side in the bottom of the 10th for his third save of the series.
• Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval is named World Series MVP after batting .500 and hitting three homers. Giants 4, Tigers 3
10 INNINGS
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Pagan cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .125
Scutaro 2b 4 1 2 1 1 0 .250
Sandoval 3b 5 0 1 0 0 2 .500
Arias 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Posey c 4 1 1 2 0 2 .267
Pence rf 4 1 1 0 0 3 .286
Belt 1b 3 0 1 1 1 1 .077
G.Blanco lf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .267
Theriot dh 4 1 1 0 0 1 .200
B.Crawford ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Totals 36 4 9 4 2 13
Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
A.Jackson cf 4 1 0 0 1 2 .231
Berry lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-A.Grcia ph-rf 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
b-D.Kelly ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Mi.Cabrera 3b 4 1 1 2 1 3 .231
Fielder 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .071
D.Young dh 4 1 2 1 0 2 .357
Dirks rf-lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .111
Jh.Peralta ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .067
Infante 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333
1-Worth pr-2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
G.Laird c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 35 3 5 3 3 12
San Francisco 010 002 000 1 — 4 9 0
Detroit 002 001 000 0 — 3 5 0
a-walked for Berry in the 8th. b-struck out for A.Garcia in the 10th.
1-ran for Infante in the 9th.
LOB—San Francisco 5, Detroit 6. 2B—Pence (1). 3B—Belt (1). HR—Posey (1), off Scherzer Mi.Cabrera (1), off M.Cain D.Young (1), off M.Cain. RBIs—Scutaro (3), Posey 2 (3), Belt (1), Mi.Cabrera 2 (3), D.Young (1). CS—Belt (1). S—B.Crawford.
Runners left in scoring position—San Francisco 3 (Theriot, Posey, Pagan). RISP—San Francisco 2 for 9 Detroit 1 for 1.
Runners moved up—Theriot, Berry. GIDP—Sandoval.
DP—Detroit 2 (G.Laird, G.Laird, Jh.Peralta), (Fielder, Jh.Peralta, Dotel).
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO ERA
M.Cain 7 5 3 3 2 5 3.86
Affeldt 12⁄3 0 0 0 1 4 0.00
S.Casilla W, 1-0 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Romo S, 3-3 1 0 0 0 0 3 0.00
Detroit IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Scherzer 61⁄3 7 3 3 1 8 4.26
Smyly 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 5.40
Dotel 11⁄3 0 0 0 1 1 0.00
Coke L, 0-1 2 2 1 1 0 4 2.70
Inherited runners-scored—Smyly 1-0, Dotel 1-0. HBP—by S.Casilla (Infante).
Umpires—Home, Brian O'Nora First, Brian Gorman Second, Joe West Third, Gerry Davis Right, Fieldin Culbreth Left, Dan Iassogna.
T—3:34. A—42,152 (41,255).