The Milwaukee Brewers offense exploded for 16 runs on Sunday afternoon, but Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants were hoping to tell a different story on Monday at Miller Park against the Brew Crew. But a pair of home runs from Buster Posey and Ryan Braun eventually led to extra innings. But it was Hector Sanchez making the difference, launching a 14th inning bomb to give the Giants the 4-3 victory.
Brewers starter Randy Wolf was impressive aside from a first inning mistake to Buster Posey, who smashed a three-run bomb after a pair of walks to Brandon Crawford and Melky Cabrera to give the Giants an early 3-0 lead.
Madison Bumgarner took over from there, who aside from an RBI double to Aramis Ramirez in the sixth was looking to be on cruise control. The Giants had a few more chances to support his cause, like an 8th inning rally sparked by a Cabrera triple and Posey walk to give San Francisco runners at the corners with one out. Francisco Rodriguez would silence that party, striking out Brett Pill and Joaquin Arias to end the inning. That's when the fun began.
Bumgarner struck out the first two in the bottom the eighth, but another Brandon Crawford error left the door open for Ryan Braun, who pounded an 0-2 meatball into the cheap seats to tie the game at three apiece, effectively knocking out Bumgarner. The big lefty would finish after 7.2 innings of work, giving up five hits and just one walk while striking out 10.
John Axford walked Nate Schierholtz and Brandon Belt to give the Giants two on with one out in the top of the ninth, but a Gregor Blanco pop out and Crawford strike out killed that rally. Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt worked the bottom of the ninth, and on to extras it went.
It was a stalemate until the top of the 14th when Hector Sanchez played hero with a solo homer off of Juan Perez, while Santiago Casilla shut the door in the bottom of the frame for his first win of the year and the exciting victory for San Francisco.
Shaun Marcum (2-2, 3.31) takes on Matt Cain (3-2, 2.67) in Tuesday's matchup, with the first pitch scheduled for 5:10 p.m. PT once more. CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM will have the coverage in the Bay Area.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles and SB Nation Bay Area.
