The San Francisco Giants take their quest for a second World Series title in three years into Game Two tonight at AT&T Park, after shocking the Detroit Tigers and vaunted starter Justin Verlander with an 8-3 drubbing.
Behind Pablo Sandoval's three-home run game, the final score doesn't represent the command the Giants had over the game from the third inning on, when Andre Pagan's shot down the third base line turned into a quirk double when it hit the bag and squirted past Miguel Cabrera into left field.
Sandoval hit for the fences in his first three at bats, but settled for a single his fourth time up. He joined Albert Pujols, Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth (twice) in the record books for the feat.
Meanwhile Giants starting pitcher Barry Zito shut down the Tiger offense, who had a five-day layoff after their sweep of the New York Yankees in the ALCS. And fellow Cy Young Award winner, starter-turned-reliever Tim Linceum, pitched 2 1/3 innings, giving up no hits, no walks and getting 5 of his 7 outs on strikeouts.
Other game highlights for the Giants included left fielder Gregor Blanco robbing two Detroit batters of hits with sliding catches, Zito getting an RBI single off Verlander in the fourth and an alert double-play from Buster Posey. Posey also got two singles, breaking through a slump that plagued him through the NLCS.
Tonight's game pits 23-year old Madison Bumgarner (16-11 on the season) for the Giants against Detroit's Doug Fister (10-10) as starting pitchers. Game time is 5:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Fox TV (Channel 2 in most areas) and carried on radio KNBR (680 am) in the Bay Area.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is encouraging fans to take Muni, BART, Caltrain, ferries, taxis, or walk or bike to the ballpark.
Water traffic will be heavy in McCovey Cove, as it always is for big games at AT&T Park. The Coast Guard urges boaters heading to the cove for the game to make sure they have safety equipment.
Bay City News Service contributed to this article.
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