The San Francisco Giants fought back from a 3-0 deficit Friday night by manufacturing runs to defeat the Cleveland Indians. On a night in which Jonathan Sanchez did not have complete command of his pitches, the Giants bullpen was almost perfect and the Giants offense figured out how to get to Carlos Carrasco late.
The Indians jumped on top early as they grabbed a pair of runs in the first inning on a Carlos Santana double. The double was key but it was set up by the continued struggles Jonathan Sanchez is having with his command. After striking out Grady Sizemore to lead off the inning, Sanchez walked Orlando Cabrera and Asdrubal Cabrera, at which point Santana blasted the double.
Sanchez settled down and showed the Dr. Jekkyl to his Mr. Hyde as he struck out the side in the second inning. He cruised through the third before again running into trouble in the fourth. He only gave up one run but he mixed in a hit batter and a walk. He left in the fifth inning after walking three more hitters.
The Giants offense scuffled early but slowly mounted their comeback. Andres Torres hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1. In the sixth inning, the Giants were then able to manufacture three more runs to grab a 4-3 lead. After Chris Stewart singled, Nate Schierholtz reached base on a throwing error by Carlos Santana. Andres Torres then singled to center to load the bases. Santana followed that up with another error to score Stewart and the Indians lead was 3-2. A pair of sacrifice fly balls brought in Schierholtz and Torres and the Giants suddenly had the lead.
The Giants bullpen came on in the top of the fifth with two outs to replace the ineffective Sanchez and provided clutch pitching. Santiaga Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, and Brian Wilson combined to give up one walk and nothing else over 4 1/3 innings and secured the 4-3 victory.
The Giants and Indians return at 1:10pm pacific as the regional FOX game of the week. Matt Cain will face Justin Masterson as the Giants will look to win their fourth straight game.