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Giants top Cards in 10, take series lead

Oct 15, 2014 - 12:12 AM San Francisco, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Sixteen batters in a row failed to reach base for the San Francisco Giants.

Their last hit was a single by their starting pitcher in the fourth inning.

Then Brandon Crawford drew a leadoff walk in the 10th inning and minutes later was racing home as the winning run.

The Giants may not be hitting balls over the fence, but they continue to make timely plays.

Crawford scored from second base on a throwing error by reliever Randy Choate and the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Tuesday in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

Crawford went to second base on a single by Juan Perez, who was only swinging because he fouled off two bunt attempts. Choate (0-1) fielded Gregor Blanco's bunt and threw wide to first base for an error, touching off a celebration for the Giants, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Their offense had been absent since a four-run rally in the first inning.

"It couldn't have worked out better," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "Perez can't lay down a bunt and he gets a hit. You're playing with house money at that point."

Randal Grichuk had tied the game for St. Louis with a solo homer in the seventh as the Cardinals came close to building on their postseason narrative.

All four of their wins have come after they either trailed or were tied going into the seventh inning, including Game 2 on Sunday when Kolten Wong hit a walk-off homer to earn a split in St. Louis.

"We've just come to expect it," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. "That's a good place to be when we get down."

Game 4 is Wednesday night in San Francisco with Shelby Miller going for the Cardinals against fellow right-hander Ryan Vogelsong for the Giants.

St. Louis played without star catcher Yadier Molina, who suffered a strained oblique on Sunday. Molina warmed up closer Trevor Rosenthal in the bullpen and was apparently available as a defensive replacement.

Wong continued to make an impact with a two-run triple off Giants starter Tim Hudson. Grichuk drove the Hudson's final pitch off the left-field pole with one out in the seventh.

The Cardinals have hit 12 homers in seven playoff games after finishing last in the NL during the regular season with 105. The Giants have just two homers in eight playoff games.

Travis Ishikawa highlighted San Francisco's four-run first inning with a three-run double off John Lackey, who went six innings for St. Louis and gave up just one hit after the first -- Hudson's single in the fourth.

Lackey, 35, had three strikeouts and a walk pitching on seven days' rest since beating the Dodgers in Game 3 for his seventh career postseason win.

Hudson, 39, struck out five and walked none in his first career championship series start. He had nine days off since pitching 7 1/3 innings against the Nationals in Game 2, which the Giants won in 18 innings.

Lackey got two outs on four pitches in the bottom of the first inning before the Giants started their four-run rally.

Hunter Pence slapped an RBI double into the right-field corner, but the big blow was Ishikawa's bases-loaded hit. Grichuk seemed to misjudge the wind, pulling back as the ball hit off the base of the right-field wall.

The wind also seemed to confuse Pence on Wong's triple in the fourth, which hit higher up on the wall.

Jhonny Peralta bounced a two-out single through the left side in the sixth inning for his first RBI of the postseason to draw the Cardinals within 4-3.

Game Notes

It was the sixth extra-inning game this postseason, two short of the record of eight set in 1995. The only other years with more were 2003 and 2004, which both had seven ... Marco Gonzalez, Pat Neshek and Seth Maness each pitched a perfect inning for St. Louis ... Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval has reached base safely in 21 straight postseason games, tying Barry Bonds' franchise record set in 2003 ... Hudson's single in the fourth inning snapped a 42 at-bat hitless streak. He hasn't earned a postseason win since the 2001 ALDS for Oakland against the Yankees ... It was the eighth time this season the Giants scored at least four runs in the first inning ... Giants third base coach Tim Flannery joined the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh and Bob Weir to sing the national anthem ... Hall of Famer Willie McCovey was at the ballpark after recently being released from the hospital. The Giants legend was battling an infection.