SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants were even with the Angels going into last night’s World Series Game 5 because of an area that was predicted to be inferior to what the Angels had.
While Jeff Kent finally did something productive, Benito Santiago stopped hitting into double plays after Barry Bonds was walked intentionally, and David Bell atoned for a baserunning gaffe to win the game with an eighth-inning single, it was the Giants’ bullpen that turned the World Series into a best-of-five affair.
When the Series opened, the Giants’ pen didn’t stack up to the Angels’. Tim Worrell, Felix Rodriguez and Robb Nen weren’t as good as Ben Weber, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival. The reason was Francisco Rodriguez, a 20-year-old who turned into the darling of the postseason.
Yet it was Felix Rodriguez, Worrell and Nen who pitched three scoreless innings to help the Giants to a 4-3 victory Wednesday night at Pac Bell Park.
The blanks fired by the pen followed starter Kirk Rueter’s final three innings, in which he didn’t allow a run. After Anaheim took a 3-0 lead on Troy Glaus’ two-run homer in the third, even the most ardent Giants supporter had a feeling of doom because the Angels certainly had a big inning coming, since that has turned into their October calling card.
However, it never arrived. The Angels mustered only three singles after Glaus’ homer and all three were erased by double plays.
Nursing a one-run lead in the ninth, Nen gave up a one-out single to Benji Gil but ended the game by getting pinch-hitter Brad Fullmer on a grounder to shortstop Rich Aurilia to start a 6-3 double play that sealed the victory.
It was Nen’s second save of the Series and seventh of the postseason.
Giants manager Dusty Baker knew what he had in the pen and understood it was nothing more than one inning each from the trio, and no other arms at all. That’s why he let Rueter hit leading off the fifth trailing 3-0.
“I let Kirk hit because I know Kirk can hit and my bullpen was spent,” Baker said. “I really needed another inning out of Kirk big time so we could get to Felix and Worrell and Nen. Things just worked out.”
Rueter, a .177 (11-for-62) hitter during the season, started a three-run rally that tied the score with a chop single off John Lackey. Kenny Lofton followed with a bunt single that hugged the third base line, and Aurilia followed with an RBI single. After Kent’s sacrifice fly plated the second run, Scioscia walked Bonds intentionally for the third time in five innings.
In the first, Santiago followed by hitting into a 6-3 double play; in the third, he made Scioscia look brilliant by banging into a 6-4-3 double play. In the fifth, Santiago foiled the strategy with a single to center that tied the score.
That’s the way it stayed until Bell’s single off Francisco Rodriguez scored J.T. Snow from second. Snow opened the inning with a single to right and went to second when Molina was charged with a passed ball while Reggie Sanders was attempting to bunt Snow to second.
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BULL MARKET
Three Giant relievers held the Angels in check for three important innings in Game 4, allowing San Francisco to come from behind for a 4-3 win. Here’s a look at the Giants’ bullpen performance from Wednesday night.
PITCHER — IP — H — R — ER — BB — SO — NP
FELIZ RODRIGUEZ — 1 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 1 — 9
TIM WORRELL, W — 1 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 13
ROBB NEN, S — 1 — 1 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0 — 7