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Giants sweep Tigers to win second title in three years

Oct 29, 2012 - 6:20 AM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - The San Francisco Giants needed 10 innings and another clutch hit from Marco Scutaro to capture their second World Series title in three years with a 4-3 Game 4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Scutaro, the NLCS MVP, hit a two-out humpback liner off Phil Coke in the 10th that bounced in front of center fielder Austin Jackson and knocked in Ryan Theriot from second to break the 3-3 deadlock.

Sergio Romo fanned the top of Detroit's lineup in succession to finish off the sudden sweep of the American League champs and give the franchise its seventh World Series crown.

The Giants ended a 56-year World Series drought by winning it all in 2010, and completed this year's run by staving off six elimination games and winning their final seven contests.

"I couldn't be prouder of these guys. To be world champions in two of the past three years is amazing," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "If you look at the clubs we played and having our backs against the wall, it's pretty remarkable what these guys have done."

The Giants trailed the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0, in the NLDS and claimed the NL pennant after going down 3-1 to the defending-champion St. Louis Cardinals.

"We fought through 162 games. We fought in the last two series," said Pablo Sandoval, who batted .500 (8-for-16) in the World Series, belted three home runs in opener and was voted the MVP. "It's a beautiful group we have here."

While Sandoval and Scutaro sparked the club offensively, it was the Giants' pitching staff that carried the load, including back-to-back shutouts in Games 2 and 3 against a Tigers team that had only been blanked twice during the regular season.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give Detroit its first lead of the series, but Romo froze the Triple Crown winner on a 2-2 fastball with two outs in the ninth to close out another dominating pitching performance.

"There were no bad breaks, no flukes," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said after the tough exit. "They beat us and they earned it."

Coke (0-1) struck out the side in the ninth and stayed in for the 10th, which began with Theriot singling to right field. Theriot, who had not started the entire postseason but was penciled in as the designated hitter, moved to second on Brandon Crawford's textbook sacrifice bunt.

Angel Pagan went down swinging before Scutaro came through with the game- winning hit -- the midseason acquisition's 21st of the playoffs.

Both starters gave up three runs in quality outings, with San Francisco's Matt Cain going seven strong frames and Max Scherzer lasting 6 1/3 innings. Cain gave up home runs to Cabrera and Delmon Young, while Buster Posey took Scherzer deep in the sixth.

Santiago Casilla (1-0) earned the win behind Cain by getting the final out in the ninth. Casilla took over for Jeremy Affeldt with two outs and plunked Omar Infante on the left hand before getting Gerald Laird on a fielder's choice groundout.

San Francisco took an early lead in its half of the second when Hunter Pence hit a ground-rule double and raced home on Brandon Belt's triple to right field.

Scherzer retired Gregor Blanco and Theriot to keep Belt from scoring, then got Posey on a flyout to center to leave runners on the corners an inning later.

The Tigers ended their 20-inning scoreless streak in the third. Jackson reached base by taking a payoff pitch just out of the strike zone to earn a one-out walk and advanced to second when Quintin Berry bunted to the third- base side and was thrown out by a step. Cabrera then had his wind-aided fly ball off a 1-1 changeup carry into the right-field bleachers for a home run.

Detroit had not scored since the ninth inning of the opener, and the Giants had not trailed since losing Game 4 of the NL Championship Series to the Cardinals, a span of 56 straight innings -- four shy of tying the record for a single postseason.

The 2-1 cushion lasted until Posey turned on a hanging changeup and smacked it just inside the left-field foul pole in the sixth inning. Scutaro led off the sixth with a chopper down the third-base line and easily beat Cabrera's double-pump throw to first.

Young countered in Detroit's half by smacking a first-pitch slider over the wall in right field for his third home run this postseason.

Scherzer was pulled with Blanco on second and one out in the seventh. Drew Smyly set down the only hitter he faced -- Crawford -- and Octavio Dotel got Pagan on a routine grounder to second.

Both teams had their leadoff hitters reach on walks in the eighth inning, only to come away empty. Dotel shook off his free pass to Scutaro by getting Sandoval to ground out to first. Scutaro was caught off the bag and was tagged out in a rundown. Affeldt, after walking pinch-hitter Avisail Garcia, struck out Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Young in order to keep it tied.

"We were feeling pretty good when we got in that situation, when Garcia got the walk," Leyland said. "But Affeldt really pitched tough, made some nasty pitches."

Jhonny Peralta hit his second deep fly ball of the game in the ninth, with Pagan tracking it down at the warning track. Peralta came up several feet short of clearing the left-field wall in the sixth as well.

Game Notes

Twenty-one of the 24 teams that have held a 3-0 lead in the World Series have completed their sweeps ... Sandoval finished with 24 hits this postseason, one shy of the all-time record set by three players ... Romo became the seventh player to record at least three saves in a single Fall Classic ... The Giants went 10-1 this postseason when scoring first ... Cain was trying to become the third pitcher in MLB history to earn a victory in three clinchers in a single postseason ... The 2004 Boston Red Sox hold the single-postseason record with 60 consecutive innings without trailing ... Cabrera has reached base safely in all 24 of his postseason games with Detroit ... It was revealed after the game that Infante broke his left hand ... The Tigers, who have lost seven straight World Series games, became the third team to sweep their opponents in the League Championship Series and then get swept in the Fall Classic.