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October 11, 2014

NLCS 1: Giants 3, Cardinals 0

Giants    - 021 000 000 - 3  8  0
Cardinals - 000 000 000 - 0  4  1
Madison Bumgarner (7.2-4-0-1-7, 112) was the star of the game, turning in another magnificent performance as his teammates scored early against Adam Wainwright (4.2-6-3-3-2, 98), whose pitch count was at 69 after only three innings.

Bumgarner allowed four singles: Matt Carpenter leading off the bottom of the first, Jon Jay with two outs in the second, and Yadier Molina and Jay with one out in the seventh.

Bumgarner extended his streak of consecutive scoreless postseason innings on the road to an MLB-record 26.2. (The old record was 23 innings, set by Art Nehf of the New York Giants from 1921-24.)

Wainwright laboured in the second inning, facing eight San Francisco batters and throwing 36 pitches. Pablo Sandoval doubled to right, Hunter Pence walked, and Brandon Belt singled to short left, loading the bases with none out. After Brandon Crawford struck out, Travis Ishikawa dropped a single into short left field for one run. A fielding error by third basemen Carpenter handed the Giants a second run. Belt's sacrifice fly in the third scored Buster Posey, making it 3-0.

In nine postseason innings over two starts, Wainwright has thrown exactly 200 pitches: 102 in 4.1 innings against Washington in NLDS 1 and 98 pitches in 4.2 innings tonight. He's allowed 17 hits and nine runs.

The Cardinals' best chance at scoring came in the seventh, when they had runners at first and second with one out. (It was only the second time in the game a St. Louis runner had been beyond first base.) Kolten Wong grounded out first-to-pitcher, with Bumbarner tagging Wong before he reached the bag. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny believed there was obstruction and challenged the play, but the original call was upheld. The base runners moved up to second and third, but were stranded when Bumgarner fanned pinch-hitter Tony Cruz.

Sandoval reached base four times, with two singles, a double, and a walk. He has hit safely in 17 of his last 19 playoff games.

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