ANAHEIM – Barry Bonds and Reggie Sanders wounded them before J.T. Snow killed the Angels in Game 1 of the World Series last night at Edison Field.
Snow, a former Angel who grew up in Orange County and played briefly for the Yankees, crushed a two-run homer off Jarrod Washburn in the sixth inning that helped carry the Giants to a 4-3 win in front of 44,603 last night.
The victory gave the Giants a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-seven Series that resumes tonight with Game 2. Kevin Appier goes for the Angels and Russ Ortiz hurls for the visitors.
The baseball world didn’t have to wait long to see if Angels manager Mike Scioscia would pitch to Bonds, who led off the second inning. Batting with three infielders on the right side of second base, Bonds sent a 2-1 Jarrod Washburn fastball far over the right-field fence. One out later, Sanders hit an opposite-field homer.
Angels third baseman Troy Glaus homered in the second and sixth innings to raise his post-season dinger total to six in 10 games. It was the 44th time a player had a multi-homer Series game. Former Yankee Chad Curtis was the last player to do it in Game 3 of the 1999 World Series against the Braves.
Jason Schmidt posted the victory with 52/3 innings of three-run, nine-hit pitching that included giving up two homers to Glaus. Rob Nenn, a high school teammate of Snow’s at Los Alamitos, worked the ninth for the save.
It was the first Giants’ World Series victory in 40 years and the first time the Angels played a Series game in their history.
Scioscia left starter Washburn in to face the left-handed hitting Snow with two outs and Sanders on first in the sixth. With Brendan Donnelly throwing in the pen, Scioscia elected to have lefty face lefty. Washburn’s first three pitches were balls before he threw a strike. At 3-1, Washburn threw a fastball out over the plate and Snow stroked it toward left-center for his first World Series homer and second of the postseason.
Donnnelly replaced Washburn and retired David Bell on a fly to left.
In 52/3 innings, Washburn gave up four runs and six hits, three of which were homers.
Snow, who was acquired from the Angels for ex-Yankee Allen Watson after the 1996 season, turned in the defensive play of the game in the home fifth when he chased Tim Salmon’s foul pop between the first base dugout and the plate near the stands.
With runners on first and second and one out, Salmon lofted a foul pop that Snow tracked onto the rubber surface that rings the field from dugout to dugout. On the move toward the fence, Snow lost his footing and fell on his back. Undaunted, he bounced up and made the catch. Schmidt followed by blowing an 0-2 fastball by Garret Anderson.
Glaus’ second homer came leading off the sixth and cut the Giants’ lead to 4-2. It was his second two-homer game of the postseason. He homered twice in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
Brad Fullmer followed Glaus’ blast with a walk before Schmidt retired Scott Spiezo and Bengie Molina. Fullmer made second on Molina’s grounder to third and scored when Adam Kennedy dumped a flair single into right that reduced the Angels’ deficit to 4-3. It was the Angels’ first hit with runners in scoring position in eight at-bats.
Felix Rodriguez replaced Schmidt to face David Eckstein and got him on a liner to short.
Neither team came through in the clutch through five innings with the Giants clinging to a 2-1 advantage. The Giants were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and the Angels were hitless in seven chances and left six runners on base.
Glaus pulled the Angels to within a run at 2-1 with his first homer, a towering shot into the Angels’ bullpen in left with one out in the second. Schmidt had Glaus buried 0-2 before hanging a slider that the right-handed hitter punished.
The question of whether the Giants would pitch to Bonds was answered in the second inning when Washburn foolishly challenged the cleanup hitter with a belt-high fastball that Bonds launched far over the right-field fence for a 1-0 lead. Bonds became the 26th player to hit a homer in his first World Series at-bat and the first since Atlanta’s Andruw Jones homered against the Yankees in Game 1 of the 1996 Series.