Tonight's starting pitchers were lefthander Matt Moore (San Francisco) and righthander John Lackey (Chicago).
Moore was 13-12 this season with a 4.08 ERA and 178 strikeouts.
He was 6-5 with the Giants after coming to San Francisco in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on July 31.
Moore didn't face the Cubs this season and has never faced them in his career.
Tonight, he pitched in his fifth postseason-game and started his third one.
Lackey was 11-8 with a 3.35 ERA this year.
He struckout 180 batters in 188 1/3 inning.
Lackey, who last season pitched for St. Louis Cardinals, is a postseason-veteran, as he had pitched in 23 games before tonight.
He started 20 of them and is 8-5.
This season, Lackey started one game against the Giants and had a no-decision.
In his career he is 1-1 in three games against the Giants.
After the Cubs had left a runner on first base in the top of the first inning, the Giants opened the score in its first at bat.
Denard Span led off with a double off of John Lackey, then moved to third base when Brandon Belt flied out.
Moments later, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Buster Posey.
In the second inning, the Giants got a chance to add another runner, as Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik both singled with out.
But they were left behind, as Lackey struckout Gregor Blanco, then a grounder ended the inning.
The Cubs came alongside in the third inning when 39-year old catcher David Ross led off with a homerun.
Ross is retiring after the season.
With his homerun, he became the oldest catcher to hit a homerun in the postseason.
He took over the record of Bob Boone, who was 38 when he homered in the 1986 ALCS, playing for California Angels.
Matt Moore retired the next three batters, two of them on a strikeout, but the score was now 1-1.
...San Francisco's AT&T Park during the...
...2013 World Baseball Classic...
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In the bottom of the third, Cubs-second baseman Javier Baez made a great play on a grounder by Denard Span, resulting in a close play at first base.
Span was ruled out, but that was overturned after a challenge and so, he reached on an infield-hit.
With one out, Span was caught stealing.
Buster Posey then walked, but he stranded.
The Giants got into scoring position again in the bottom of the fourth inning and again Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik were involved.
With one out, the duo singled and that resulted in runners at the corners.
The bases then got loaded when John Lackey walked Gregor Blanco.
That brought pitcher Matt Moore in the batter's box and with an 0-2 count, he drove he ball through the rightside of the infield for a runscoring single that gave the Giants a 2-1 lead.
Next batter Denard Span then grounded to short for a possible double play-grounder, but only Moore was forced out on second base.
The throw to first base was off the base and so, Span was safe and Panik scored to make it a 3-1 score.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Javier Baez showed he can also run.
His grounder to short stop Brandon Crawford ended in a throwing error.
After reading first base, the 23-year old Puerto Rican raced to third base.
Moments later, he scored on a sacrifice fly by David Ross.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Justin Grimm took over the pitching for John Lackey.
With one out, Hunter Pence singled, then Brandon Crawford drilled the ball into centerfield where it hit the top of the wall.
While Crawford stopped at second base and Pence advanced to third, the umpires reviewed the track of the ball to see if it had cleared the wall and was a homerun.
As the ball hit the top of the concrete and then bounced back onto the field, the call was upheld.
Hereafter, Travis Wood took over from Grimm, but he gave up a runscoring single to Conor Gillaspie, then a sacrifice fly to Joe Panik that brought in two runs and made it a 5-2 score.
...The season ended for the Giants...
...& Hitting Coach Hensley Meulens,...
...who is the Manager of the...
...Netherlands Kingdom Team...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the sixth, the Giants-defense made some nice plays.
Dexter Fowler led off with a walk.
Kris Bryant then hit a line drive into rightfield, where Hunter Pence barely missed catching the ball.
Fowler had taken off, hesitated in the middle towards second base, then was forced out on second base on a nice throw from Pence.
After a strikeout, Bryant was forced out to end the inning.
After Matt Moore retired the side in the top of the eighth inning and increased his strikeout-total to ten, the Giants reached base again in the bottom of the eighth.
Conor Gillaspie then led off with another basehit and he was 4-for-4 tonight.
But after a strikeout, he was eliminated in an inning-ending double play.
In the top of the ninth, Derek Law took over the pitching for Matt Moore, who had pitched eight very strong innings, striking out ten batters and giving up only two basehits.
A week ago, Madison Bumgarner went the distance for the Giants in the Wild Card-game against the New York Mets.
But today, it was opted to let the bullpen close the game.
However, that failed.
Law gave up a lead-off single to Kris Bryant.
Giants-Manager Bruce Bochy immediately made another pitching change and brought in Javier Lopez.
He walked Anthony Rizzo and with that, Bochy made another call to the bullpen and brought closer Sergio Romo to the mound.
But he gave up an RBI-double to Ben Zobrist on a 3-1 count, which brought in Bryant and put runners on second and third base.
The tactical decisions and moves by both Managers continued hereafter.
When Chicago-Manager Joe Maddon announced lefthanded hitter Chris Coghlan as pinch-hitter, Bochy came out and brought in lefthanded reliever Will Smith.
Hereafter, Maddon called Coghlan back and replaced him by righthanded pinch-hitter Willson Contreras.
He delivered a 2-run single that tied the score at 5-5!
Next batter Jason Heyward then bunted and that resulted in a force out at second base.
But that was also followed by a throwing error, which brought Heyward to second base.
Another pitching change followed, as Hunter Strickland became the fifth pitcher in the inning, but he then gave up a runscoring single to Javier Baez that brought in Heyward and gave the Cubs a 6-5 lead!
A double play ended the at bat, but the Cubs had rallied for four runs and were leading for the first time in the game!
When the inning began, the Cubs were three outs away from a loss and a return to Chicago to play a fifth game against the Giants!
Aroldis Chapman closed the game for the Cubs.
The hardthrowing Cuban struckout three batters to end the game!
With that, the Cubs won the Series and advance to the League Championship Series.
For the Giants, the season ended.
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Giants come from behind to win Series and advance to NLCS!
SAN FRANCISCO, California (USA) -
Chicago Cubs trailed 5-2 in the top of the ninth inning of another thriller, but then rallied for four runs to win 6-5 against San Francisco Giants on Tuesday-evening (October 11) in Game 4 of the best-of-five National League Division Series.
With that, the Cubs won the Series 3-1 and advance to the National League Championship Series.
In that Series, the Cubs meet the winner of the NLDS between Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers, which needs a fifth game coming Thursday.
Chicago will open the best-of-seven NLCS coming Saturday at either Washington or Los Angeles.