Jeff Affeldt shines as San Francisco Giants defeat Detroit Tigers 4-3 – MLB Update
The San Francisco Giants blistered three runs in the top of the ninth inning and Jeff Affeldt saved his third, as the club overpowered their interleague rivals Detroit Tigers in the first match of the three-game interleague road series, at Comerica Park,
Detroit on Friday, July 1.
Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said, "Proud of the guys. They came through in the ninth and put up a crooked number when we haven't been cashing those in."
The Giants were enjoying a 1-0 lead but the game was tied at 1-all when Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez drove in an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning. As the game was tied at 1-all before the start of the ninth inning, the Giants’ bull-pen was in deep
concentration on how to convert the tie into a win before entering extra innings.
Pablo Sandoval came up with a solution and hit a ground rule RBI single to take a lead by one run. The Tigers’ closer Jose Valverde then went under great pressure and allowed an RBI permitting walk to Nate Schierholtz. Getting a 3-1 lead boost, the Giants’
were excited when Brandon Crawford earned another RBI walk.
Before the start of the bottom of the ninth inning, the Tigers were trailing 4-1. However, they struggled hard to remove this lead and made some fast hits to gather two RBI singles but they failed to make another to force the game into extra inning.
The Giants’ pacer Madison Bumgarner made a second straight devastating start, after he made a career-high 11 strike-outs against the Cleveland Indians on June 26, to earn his back-to-back one-run win. The 21-year-old left-hand pitcher held the Tigers to
no-score until the eighth inning when he permitted his first run after five hits.
However, he devastated the Tigers’ batting squad taking nine strike-outs, his second highest of the season. Reliever Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez remained scoreless but Brian Wilson allowed two runs in the ninth inning. Jeff Affeldt tossed only eight pitches
to take his third save of the season.
"I threw a curve that didn't go where I wanted, but he hit it off the end of the bat," Affeldt said. "I was like, 'Please no ... oh, yes."
The Tigers’ starter, Brad Penny allowed one run on seven hits, walked two and got two strike-outs over his seven innings. Lester Oliveros tossed a perfect eighth inning without allowing any run and taking two batters. However, Valverde pitched loose which
eventually cost the Tigers the game.
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