![]() The first batter he faced: Bobby Thomson. With the tying run at second, Newcombe was replaced with Ralph Branca, an eight-year Dodger veteran who grew up a big Giants fan. After Newcombe got Irvin to foul out, Whitey Lockman drilled a double that scored Dark and sent Mueller to third-where he badly injured his knee and precipitated a 15-minute delay while he was taken off the field. Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges inexplicably held onto Dark-essentially, a meaningless run-rather than maximize their defensive range sure enough, Don Mueller poked a grounder through the enlarged hole on the right side that might have otherwise been turned into a rally-killing double play. With Newcombe trying to wrap it up, Alvin Dark led off with a single. The 4-1 Brooklyn lead held going into the bottom of the ninth. The Dodgers quickly-and, it appeared, fatally for the Giants-responded in the eighth with three runs, a rally extended when Thomson couldn’t hang onto a catch behind third base off an Andy Pafko short fly. On a day described as “dank and dreary,” the Giants quickly trailed the Dodgers 1-0 on a first-inning, run-scoring single by Jackie Robinson 20-game winner Don Newcombe held the lead up for the first six innings, but ran into trouble and allowed the Giants to tie it in the seventh when Thomson’s sacrifice fly brought home Monte Irvin, who had doubled to lead off the frame. They won the first game, 3-1, before getting shellacked in the second, 10-0-setting up the winner-take-all at New York’s Polo Grounds. Looking down and out in mid-August as they trailed powerhouse rival Brooklyn by 13 games, the Giants awoke and won 37 of their remaining 44 games to tie the Dodgers and force a best-of-three playoff to determine the National League pennant. One of baseball’s legendary home runs capped a remarkable season comeback in historic fashion and would make the name Bobby Thomson sweetly resonate with generations of Giants fans. Game Four see-sawed before the Giants proved themselves deserving champions.Ĭabrera may have won a coveted Triple Crown and smashed a Game Four homer, but the Tigers' much-vaunted offense failed to dominate the Giants' unexpectedly effective pitching.Īnalysis from David Lengel and Hunter Felt and much more will be online on Monday.October 3, 1951: The Shot Heard ‘Round the World The Giants had come through the playoffs the hard way - falling 0-2 behind the Cincinatti Reds in the NLDS before winning the next three to advance, and then falling 1-3 behind to the St Louis Cardinals in the NLCS before again winning the next three to reach the World Series.īut the World Series had been somewhat simpler: an 8-3 Game One slugfest victory before shutting out the Tigers in Games Two and Three in consecutive 2-0 victories. Posey added: "I think tonight was a fitting way for us to end it, because played hard. But it's 25 guys who all want the same thing." Giants manager Bruce Bochy said: "It's a team effort. ![]() Tigers manager Jim Leyland was magnanimous in defeat: "They beat us, they were the better team." Pablo Sandoval, who was 8-for-16 in the series and set the tone with his record-equalling three home runs in Game One, was named World Series MVP. San Francisco's closer Romo struck out Austin Jackson, Don Kelly and Cabrera and the World Series was won. In the top of the tenth inning Marco Scutaro doubled to drive home Ryan Theriot and leave the Tigers with three outs to save the Series. Neither side could gain an advantage in regulation and the game went to extra innings. ![]() San Francisco regained the lead in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer from Buster Posey.īut a Delmon Young homer in the bottom of the sixth tied the game back up at 3-3. But the Tigers came back with a two-run homer from Cabrera. The Giants took an early lead with a Brandon Belt RBI triple. ![]() It had been a fluctuating Game Four, with the Tigers needing to win to stay alive after being outplayed in the first three games of the Series. It is the Giants' second title in three years - San Francisco disposed of the Texas Rangers 4-1 in 2010. In a cruel twist, the Tigers' batting champion Miguel Cabrera was the last out - struck out watching a Sergio Romo pitch go past in a deathly quiet Comerica Park.
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