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Arroyo, Reds push Giants to brink of elimination

Oct 8, 2012 - 5:43 AM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Bronson Arroyo spun seven stellar innings of one-hit ball on Sunday, and the Cincinnati Reds blanked the San Francisco Giants, 9-0, in Game 2 of their National League Division Series at AT&T Park.

Arroyo (1-0) struck out four and walked just one to earn his first career postseason victory.

"It's amazing to go out there deep in the ballgame, get an opportunity to kind of do what you do in your craft and have it work out the way it did," Arroyo remarked.

Ryan Hanigan registered three RBI, Jay Bruce plated a pair and Ryan Ludwick added a solo homer for the Reds, who won 5-2 in Game 1 on Saturday.

Madison Bumgarner (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk over 4 1/3 frames.

Pablo Sandoval had the lone extra-base hit for San Francisco, which now looks to become the first NL team in Division Series history to rally from an 0-2 deficit to win the series.

"We know where we're at right now and our backs are to the wall," Giants manager Bruce Bochy admitted. "We have to come out and be ready to play once we get to Cincinnati."

Game 3 of this best-of-five series is slated for Tuesday in Cincinnati.

After the Reds went down in order in the first, Ludwick crushed the first pitch of the second inning into straightaway center field to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage.

Cincinnati added to its lead in the fourth, as Joey Votto and Ludwick started the frame with back-to-back singles. After Bruce popped out into foul territory, Scott Rolen slapped a single into shallow right field, scoring Votto from second for a 2-0 lead.

Hanigan then ripped the next pitch back up the middle to plate Ludwick and Rolen for a four-run edge.

Arroyo retired the first 14 hitters he faced before Brandon Belt scorched a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Giants their first hit.

After the right-hander grounded out Gregor Blanco to end the fifth, Arroyo cruised through the sixth and worked around a two-out walk in the seventh before the Reds erupted for a four-run eighth to provide some breathing room.

Tim Lincecum fired two scoreless innings in relief for the Giants, but Jose Mijares entered in the eighth and served up a single to Votto and then walked Ludwick, who was replaced by pinch-runner Chris Heisey.

Bruce then stroked a double into right field to score Votto and Heisey for a 6-0 lead. Santiago Casilla entered next and flied out Rolen before Guillermo Mota took over on the mound and surrendered an RBI single to Hanigan.

Drew Stubbs then scorched a triple into center field to plate Hanigan and Brandon Phillips followed two batters later with a run-scoring double into the left-field corner to cap the four-run frame.

J.J. Hoover then fired a hitless eighth and Jose Arredondo worked around Sandoval's two-out double and a walk to Buster Posey in the ninth to complete the shutout.

Game Notes

Cincinnati won four of its seven regular season matchups with the Giants this past season ... Only four teams in Division Series history have come back from an 0-2 deficit: Seattle (1995), Boston (1999 and 2003) and the Yankees (2001) ... Lincecum's last relief appearance came in Game 6 of the 2010 NLCS against Philadelphia ... The Giants went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.