SAN FRANCISCO 2 CINCINNATI 1 (Reds lead series 2-1)
Hardly able to get a hit, the San Francisco Giants used a misplayed grounder to prolong their National League playoff series.
Third baseman Scott Rolen's two-out error in the 10th inning gave the Giants the go-ahead run Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, who couldn't shake 17 years of home post-season futility.
The Giants avoided a sweep in Game 3, cutting their division series deficit to 2-1.
Rolen, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, couldn't come up with Joaquin Arias' short-hop grounder, bobbled it and threw late to first.
"I've gone through the play many times in my mind between then and now, and I think I would play it the same way," Rolen said. "It hit my glove. I just couldn't get it to stick."
The Giants managed only three hits against Homer Bailey and Reds relievers, but got two of them in the 10th - along with a passed ball by Ryan Hanigan - to pull it out. San Francisco won despite striking out 16 times.
"We kept scratching and clawing down two games to none," reliever Jeremy Affeldt said. "That's the way it is in the playoffs."
Cincinnati finished with four hits, just one after the first inning.
Left-hander Barry Zito will pitch Game 4 today for the Giants, who have won the last 11 times he started. The Reds have to decide whether to try ace Johnny Cueto, forced out of the opener in San Francisco on Saturday with spasms in his back and side.
Manager Dusty Baker said after the game that they hadn't decided whether to let Cueto try it, bring back Mat Latos on short rest again, or replace Cueto with Mike Leake, who wasn't on the division series roster.
Replacing Cueto would leave the Reds ace ineligible to pitch in the championship series should the Reds get that far.
"It's very difficult, but it all depends on if your ace can't go or whatever it is," Baker said. "That's part of the conversation - us going without him. We realize what's at stake."
The Reds haven't won a home playoff game since 1995, the last time they reached the NL championship series. One win away from making it back there, they couldn't beat a Giants team that has barely been able to get a hit.
Didn't need many in this one.
Bailey made his first start at Great American Ball Park since his Sept. 28 no-hitter in Pittsburgh and allowed only one hit in seven innings, the latest dominating performance by a Reds starter. Marco Scutaro singled in the sixth for the only hit off Bailey.
Fortunately for the Giants, Bailey's one lapse let to a run. He hit a batter, walked another and gave up a sacrifice fly by Angel Pagan in the third inning.
That was it until the 10th, with the Giants going down swinging - the Reds set a season high for strikeouts. Closer Aroldis Chapman got a pair of strikeouts on fastballs during a perfect ninth inning, keeping it tied at one.
San Francisco's one-hit wonders finally got it going against Jonathan Broxton, who gave up leadoff singles by Buster Posey - the NL batting champion - and Hunter Pence, who pulled his left calf on a wild swing before getting his hit.
With two outs, Hanigan couldn't come up with a pitch, letting the runners advance. Arias' tough-chance grounder then put Rolen in a tough spot - charging the ball for a quick short-hop swipe. He couldn't come up with it cleanly, and Arias beat the throw.
A'S 2, TIGERS 0
OAKLAND, California - Brett Anderson outduelled fellow playoff first-timer Anibal Sanchez and received stellar defence all over the diamond, and the upstart Oakland Athletics avoided another playoff sweep by Detroit, beating the Tigers 2-0 in their American League division series.
The A's cut their deficit in the best-of-five matchup to 2-1.
Coco Crisp saved a likely home run by Prince Fielder with a leaping catch at the top of the centre-field wall in the second - and the A's will play another day.
Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI single in the first inning and Seth Smith homered later. That was plenty on a night Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, Fielder and the Tigers' high-priced offence was shut down by the low-budget A's.
