Detroit ace Justin Verlander lasted all of four innings on the mound in Game 1 of the World Series in San Francisco Monday night. Pablo Sandoval started the Verlander abuse early on with a first inning homer and Scutaro took advantage of the shaken right hander to tie the franchise record for the longest postseason hitting streak.
Sandoval really started pissing off Verlander in the third, when he drove an opposite-field run to score Scutaro and take himself for a jog. Here is Justin Verlander's twitchy face, waving off his pitching coach before giving up that two-run bomb:
Barry Zito brought in a run with his second RBI of the postseason — a double in the third inning. If you're one for awkward stats: That makes four games in a row where a Giants starting pitcher has sent a runner home. Two of those are Zito's, because Barry Zito is your new boyfriend. Here are two minutes of proof:
Pablo Sandoval joined Albert Pujols, Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth as the only players to ever have a three-run game in the World Series when he homered again in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-0. Giants fans who could not personally hug our cuddly third baseman were seen embracing each other in bars across San Francisco.
Gregor Blanco, in an apparent attempt to fashion a green postseason beard out of the outfield turf, nabbed two diving catches in middle right field:
Austin Jackson would put up the first Tigers run, coming home from third base on a line drive from Miguel Cabrera in the sixth.
The Giants answered in the bottom of the seventh, when Scutaro drove Angel Pagan home from second base. Scutaro himself ended up at third when Pablo put up his fourth hit of the night. Buster Posey proved it is impossible to write a Giants recap without his name in it when he drove the score to 8-1 with another RBI single. [Video] At this point, we wouldn't even be surprised if Buster actually removed his now-bionic left leg and used it as a bat.
The eighth and ninth innings were mercifully uneventful for a city still recovering from a Monday night hangover. That is, until Angel Pagan just missed robbing Jhonny Peralta of a two-run shot to center field wall in the top of the ninth. George Kontos raised pulses slightly, putting a runner on first before Jeremy Affeldt's soul patch swept in to clean up. The final out was an easy toss to second.
