San Francisco belted out 11 runs on 14 hits in routing the Rangers in the first game of the World Series. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Game one of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and San Fransisco Giants was supposed to be a pitcher's duel between two former Cy Young winners. It turned out to be a high scoring affair in which Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum combined to allow 10 runs on 16 hits in 10 1-3 innings pitched.
"It wasn't quite the game we thought it would be," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Great pitchers, sometimes they're a little bit off."
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the previously impenetrable Lee was a little bit more off than Lincecum, and Texas was unable mount a comeback in time.
"I saw the Giants work him pretty good," Rangers' manager Ron Washington said. "We left some pitches in spots we didn't want."
As they've done throughout the postseason, Texas jumped out to an early lead. With Lee on the mound, it looked as though the Rangers may just cruise to victory after taking a 2-0 lead following the second inning.
The Giants responded in the third, tying up the game at 2-all. After a bobble of a ground ball led to an error on Michael Young and Lee hit Giants center fielder Andres Torres, Freddy Sanchez belted a hanging curve down the line in left. This scored Edgar Renteria from third and the next batter, Giants' catcher Buster Posey, lined a single to center that scored Torres and knotted up the game at 2 apiece.
"We know he throws a lot of strikes," Sanchez said. "We know he's one of the best pitchers in the game, especially in the postseason. We just wanted to attack him early."
San Francisco wasn't done with Lee, roughing him up for five more runs in the fifth before he was pulled for Darren O'Day. O'Day gave up a three-run homer to the first batter he saw, and two of those runs were charged to Lee. The Giants would add three more runs in the eighth, effectively ending any Rangers comeback hopes.
"We just clicked on all cylinders," Bochy said.
Coming into the game, Lee had allowed a total of nine earned runs in 64 1-3 innings of postseason baseball. His final line for Wednesday night: seven runs (six earned) on eight hits in 4 1-3 innings pitched.
The Rangers offense did try to mount a comeback after falling behind 8-2 in the fifth, knocking out Lincecum in the sixth inning after a Bengie Molina RBI double and David Murphy RBI single with two outs made it 8-4. Texas would tack on three more in the ninth, but it was too-little, too-late as the game was already out of hand.
The good news for the Rangers is that this is a seven game series. Texas has another change with C.J. Wilson on the mound going up against Matt Cain for the Giants.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:57 p.m.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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