With a great performance by Matt Cain and continued offense from unexpected sources, the San Francisco Giants took 
a 2-0 lead over the Texas Rangers with a 9-0 victory in Game 2 of the World Series.
Cain shut down the Rangers vaunted lineup, throwing 7.2 scoreless innings and allowing just four hits on the night. Although he wasn’t necessarily dominant, having only two strikeouts, he kept his pitch count low and was able to work deep into the game.
The Giants scored first in the fifth inning on a solo homerun from Edgar Renteria then scored again in the seventh inning after C.J. Wilson issued a leadoff walk and the bullpen was unable to keep the run from crossing the plate. On the night, Wilson had a solid start, allowing two runs in six frames.
Things unraveled for the Rangers in the eighth inning. After Darren O’Day struck out the first two batters he faced, the roof caved it. Buster Posey singled with two outs, prompting Ron Washington to call on Derek Holland to face the left-handed Nate Schierholtz. Holland faced three batters, and walked all of them, turning in one of the worst relief appearances in series history.
Mark Lowe relieved Holland and allowed a walk and a single. Michael Kirkman relieved Lowe who allowed a pair of back-breaking extra base hits to Aaron Rowand and Andrew Torres before finally getting out of the inning. By the time the 8th inning was done, the Giants had seven runners cross the plate giving their bullpen a ton of insurance against a good Rangers lineup.
Giants reliever, Guillermo Mota, then came into a non-pressure situation and pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing just one walk. On the night, the Rangers bats finished cold with just four hits and three walks.
The Giants actually had less hits than runs ending with eight on the night but were aided by six walks. Edgar Renteria was the only Giants player with multiple hits and drove in three on the night.
The Giants took full advantage of getting the first two games at home and now head to Texas up 2-0. In the regular season, the Rangers were much better at home than on the road, and will look to turn things around.
Game 3 will be Saturday Evening at 6:30 (ET). The Giants will start Jonathan Sanchez (0-1, 2.93) against the Rangers Colby Lewis (2-0, 1.45). Lewis pitched a gem against the Yankees to send Texas to the World Series, and will look to help the Rangers avoid a 3-0 hole.
Used with permission of the author.
Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.
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