DETROIT: The San Francisco Giants rode another virtuoso pitching performance to blank the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Saturday and move within one victory of their second World Series title in three years.
San Francisco have a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and can claim the championship with a victory at Detroit’s Comerica Park yesterday.
“It’s a good situation, but there’s nothing been done yet,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “It’s a number, just like I said about two. Now it’s three. But that’s not the series.
“So you have to keep going about your business as usual.”
Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong allowed the Tigers just five singles over 5 2/3 innings before giving way to relievers Tim Lincecum and Sergio Romo, who did not surrender a hit.
The Giants scored both of their runs in the second inning on an RBI triple by Gregor Blanco and a run-scoring single by Brandon Crawford.
Those early runs drained the enthusiasm from a sellout crowd of 42,262 desperate to see the Tigers make a move in their bid to capture their first championship since 1984.
Defeat left Detroit, shut out in the last two games, on the ropes and manager Jim Leyland said there would be no pre-game motivational speeches for his team today.
“They can count,” said Leyland. “We know they’re down three games to zero, there’s no secret formula or message for them. They’re big guys, they know what the situation is, and they know we have to come out tomorrow and obviously win a game.
“It starts with that. You don’t think about the four, you think about one, and that’s basically what we were thinking about tonight.” REUTERS
