Braves defeat Giants with homer in 11th

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

The Giants needed six outs to take command of their NL Division Series, and for more than a month, their bullpen was as unyielding as Alcatraz.

But the Atlanta Braves staged one heck of a prison break.

They put up three runs against Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson to tie the score in the eighth inning Friday night, and Rick Ankiel clicked the final tumbler in the 11th, splashing a solo home run into McCovey Cove to propel the Braves to a 5-4 victory in Game 2 that evened this best-of-five series.

The Giants' bullpen finished the regular season with 24 consecutive scoreless innings and a 0.90 ERA from Sept. 1. But the Braves didn't fear the beard. And now this series is a close shave.

"That eighth inning can't happen in the postseason," said Wilson, who inherited runners at the corners and gave up a tying, two-run double to Alex Gonzalez.

"I'm the only one standing on the mound. I needed to get six outs, and I didn't. "... It's already past me. Game's over."

You couldn't blame an overflow crowd of 44,046, the largest in AT&T Park history, for feeling that way much earlier.

Pat Burrell's three-run home run in the first inning struck like a fist to the sternum, and Matt Cain didn't allow the Braves to counterpunch while holding them to an unearned run in 62/3 innings.

But Atlanta led the National League with 46 come-from-behind victories this season, including 25 in its final at-bat. And the Braves stormed back after Romo allowed consecutive singles to start the eighth.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy attacked the flickering rally with a pressure hose, going to his bearded, tattooed closer in the hopes he would convert the first six-out save assignment of his career.

Wilson had the chops for the assignment. He pitched two innings or more 12 times in his career, and he had recorded 10 saves of four outs or more this season -- the most by a closer since the Boston Red Sox's Jonathan Papelbon in 2008.

"At that point, we want to stop them," Bochy said.

Wilson appeared to have Melky Cabrera overmatched, but Cabrera managed a tapper to third base, and Pablo Sandoval's errant throw on the run caused Aubrey Huff to take his foot off first base as a run scored.

After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, Wilson left a fastball at the belt to Gonzalez.

"I saw he was struggling with the heater in the first game and the better part of this one, so I'm going to throw mine. That's my best pitch, and he got a good piece of it.

Wilson retired the next five hitters, and Ramon Ramirez dispatched four more before Ankiel, a converted pitcher with dangerous power, connected on a towering shot. It was the second splash homer in the postseason, along with Barry Bonds' homer in Game 3 of the 2002 NLCS.

The Giants nearly won it in the 10th after a brilliant bit of small ball.

The Braves put Billy Wagner on the mound to start the 10th, and Bochy sent up pinch hitter Edgar Renteria, who might have made the roster because of his two-run homer off the Braves' closer in the April 9 home opener.

But after taking one big rip at the first pitch, Renteria surprised the stadium by dropping a bunt down the third-base line. The ploy was no doubt inspired by the Braves' double switch to start the inning in which lumbering Troy Glaus went to third.

Andres Torres sacrificed Renteria to second base, and Wagner clutched his hip in pain after fielding the bunt. He limped off, later diagnosed with an oblique injury that almost will certainly shelve him for the series.

Kyle Farnsworth hit Freddy Sanchez with a pitch on the right hand that had him howling in pain. But he stayed in the game, and Bochy said he looked to be all right.

Huff drew a walk to load the bases for Buster Posey, who grounded into a double play -- a rare failure for the brilliant rookie.

"I didn't get the job done," Posey said. "I take pride in being in that situation, and plain and simple, I didn't get it done."

Huff sought to shield Posey, saying the failures were team-wide.

"We got the lead early and went into cruise control," Huff said. "If we get another run or two, there's a chance they fold.

We had our chances way earlier than (the double play). We've got to right that ship and have better at-bats when the game is on the line."

At least the Giants averted total disaster in the first inning, when Posey and Sandoval remained down for several seconds after colliding while chasing a foul pop.

Posey said he took a good shot to the shoulder but was all right. Sandoval said he just had the wind knocked out of him.

In the end, the entire team took one to the gut.

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