San Francisco Giants beat Cliff Lee to go one up in World Series (Part 5)
The San Francisco Giants had just clinched the National League Championship (NLCS) title and now they were on their way to the World Series. Major League Baseball’s main event was on the cards and the first match was going to be
played in the AT&T Park, home of the NLCS winners. Opposing them were the Texas Rangers, who were making history by entering the tournament for the first time. They had never won a playoff series, prior to 2010 and their last post season match before this
year was back in 1999. A lot was on stake for both clubs and as the match started up, the fans took to the stands to support their ball clubs.
The Rangers were strong and the Giants got a taste of their prowess when Elvis Andrus scored the first run of the encounter. Bengie Molina, who was traded to the Texans by San Francisco, returned to his former club as an opponent
and scored the 2nd for the team as Andrus drove in the veteran catcher with a sacrifice fly hit.
The match was entering the bottom 2nd inning and it was Cliff Lee on the mound for the Rangers. The cool ace man was up to the mark and cancelled out any Giants’ efforts that came in the innings. He struck out two and
retired one hitter to end the innings and get the Texans back on the mound. The home team pitcher, Tim Lincecum was up to the mark now, after conceding two runs and didn’t repeat his mistake, as he retired all batsmen and got the innings flowing through.
It wasn’t till the bottom 3rd that another run was scored and this time, it was the Giants who registered the brace on the board. Edgar Renteria started off with a run towards the first base. Third Baseman, Michael Young,
made a fumble and allowed the runner to make his way through without much difficulty. Lincecum came in next with the bat and the 26 year old contributed nothing to the innings as he popped out to the catcher in the foul area. Andres Torres was next in and
the smooth runner was walked onto the first base when Cliff hit him with a loose pitch. With that, the first two bases were full and Freddy Sanchez walked in to face Lee on the mound.
Freddy was successful in damaging the Rangers who were struggling on the mound. Lee was hit for a double to the shallow left and that got Renteria to through for the run. The match was now entering a phase where the Rangers had
no inkling of what was going to happen nice. With a chance of an equalizer on the cards, the Giants pounced on. Torres was on third and he eventually got through after Buster Posey came on to the strike zone and singled to the centre. That was enough to get
the side to a deadlock which set the fixture up for a stellar progression.
The Rangers were quite and were completely mesmerized by the resurgence in San Francisco’s offence. The teams continued on to look for more runs and break the dead look but that did not occur till the bottom 5th, when
the Giants took the plate again and faced Cliff Lee. Tim Lincecum was back again and the shaggy haired pitcher was now going head to head against the veteran American League star. Unfortunately, Lee wasn’t going to let the young pitcher mock him with a useful
hit. Tim grounded out to shortstop and that brought on Andres Torres to face the top ball thrower in Texas.
The match was going to enter the next phase from here on. The San Francisco club was now getting back into the game and many home fans were jeering their side as the hitters rallied.
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