By Dave Van Dyck, Chicago Tribune –
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants helped create their own World Series home-field advantage by starring in the National League’s All-Star game victory.
And it has worked perfectly for them, so far, as they beat the Tigers, 2-0, on Thursday night at AT&T Park to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
What that means in the grand scheme is that the Tigers will have to win at least one of the last two games here if they want to become champions.
But it could be over before then if the Giants keep on winning. Thursday was their fifth straight postseason victory, following the three over the Cardinals that vaulted them into the Series.
“It’s the best-of-seven, go out and play hard and see what happens,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You go out to win every game. You can’t get caught up in 2-0 or 0-2, you just play hard.”
The Tigers have scored only three runs in two games, but haven’t scored when the games were close.
“Hopefully, we can get our offense going when we get back to Motown,” Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland said.
Friday is a day off before the Series resumes Saturday in Comerica Park, where the Tigers tied for second-best home record in the major leagues.
The Giants again were helped by what some consider a little “luck.”
When they scored in the seventh inning, Gregor Blanco’s bunt in the seventh inning, which was intended just to advance runners to second and third bases, but instead became a base hit.
The Tigers let the bunt roll along the third-base line until it died in fair territory. That loaded the bases and the Giants scored on a double-play ball off even though reliever Drew Smyly got a double play from Brandon Crawford, the Giants scored.
The Giants scored an insurance run on Hunter Pence’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning. They didn’t have a hit in the frame but drew it courtesy of three walks without a hit, with the help of three walks, including an one of them intentional to hot-hitting Pablo Sandoval.
The ending overshadowed a magnificent earlier pitcher’s duel between the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner and the Tigers’ Doug Fister, who allowed a run but only after he had left the game.
Fister survived a scare when he was hit on in the right side of the head by a line drive in the bottom of second inning. With two outs, Blanco’s drive caromed off Fister’s head, went high into the air and landed in front of center fielder Austin Jackson for a single.
But Fister stayed in the game until Pence led off the seventh inning with a single.
“It was something to see,” Leyland said of the visit to the mound with the trainer after the scare. “But Doug was right on (with all the questions asked). It scared me to death. He was pretty blase with it really.”
Meanwhile, Bumgarner threw zeros at the Tigers’ imposing lineup for seven innings. And to say that was a surprise — considering he had allowed 10 runs in eight innings of two previous postseason games — would be an understatement.
Bumgarner’s biggest threat from the Tigers came in the second inning, which he started by hitting Prince Fielder. Delmon Young then lined a double to left field but Fielder was thrown out trying to score on a classic throw-and-tag play completed by Giants catcher Buster Posey.
The Tigers had only three more baserunners in Bumgarner’s remaining five innings, with none of them making it to second base.
