Giants Slam Latos

The Giants were trying to do what no National League team has ever done: come back from a 2-0 deficit in a best of 5 series. They had done what they needed to do in Games 3 and 4 and now had pushed the Reds to the brink as well. Winning Game 5 wasn’t going to be an easy task. The Reds had won 50 games at home (tied for 1st with STL and Nats) where they had not lost 3 consecutive games all year and Mat Latos was on the bump. The Giants were no stranger to Latos. He was a well known Giants hater and if that doesn’t already piss you off, he spells “Matt” with one “t”. Two years earlier after the Giants beat him in Game 162 of 2010 (when he was with Padres), he autographed a baseball for charity and included the phrase “I hate SF” under his signature. What a dick. Up until this game he had a career 4-3 record against the Giants and had already beat them twice in 2012. So if the Giants needed any motivation, that was it. Now I think it would be very pleasant to talk about how the Giants slapped 5ER on Latos.

The Most Important Inning – Defensively

If you ever find yourself making a list of the Top 10 scariest 9th innings, make sure you add Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS. Miraculously, the Giants had a 3 run lead so things had to get pretty bad for this to be scary. But that’s exactly what happened! Bochy tapped Sergio Romo (#ForeverGiant) to close it out. Romo had 14 saves that year and was named the team’s closer for the duration of the postseason. He was due to face the top of the order: Phillips, Cozart, Votto, and three more scary dudes as it turned out. Phillips was 2-4 in this game and seeking his 3rd hit to start the bottom of the 9th and hopefully erase any memory of his base running error in Game 3. The sellout crowd of 44,142 was on their feet waving their surrender towels as Phillips dug into the box and Romo delivered a strike right down the middle. Later, on the 5th pitch of the at bat Romo gets Phillips to pop out to Belt in foul territory for the first out. Huge. But this is where the 9th became troublesome. Romo walks Cozart on 5 pitches and then Votto quickly singles to right field bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Ryan Ludwick who had 3 home runs in this series including one earlier in this game! If the Reds win this series (and if there could be a DS MVP) he was clearly going to be the MVP as he went 6-18 (.333), 3HR, 4R, 4RBI, 4BB. The fans are louder now after Votto’s hit as Ludwick stands in. Romo’s first pitch to the righty is a slider on the outside for a strike, a generous call. The 0-1 pitch is another slider but it hangs in the zone and Ludwick drives it into left field for a base hit scoring Cozart without a play. Reds dugout goes nuts and the fans are back in this game. The Giants lead is now down to two and here comes Jay Bruce with guys on 1st and 2nd. His at bat will last approximately 45 minutes as he and Romo battle on the bank of the Ohio the river. First pitch is fouled off. Second pitch fouled off. A quick 0-2 for Sergio Romo. But that was just the beginning.

The following is the sequence of pitches to Jay Bruce: ball, foul, mound meeting, foul, foul, foul, foul, mound meeting, ball, foul, ball. That’s 11 pitches so far for those not counting. Full count now and Romo has been staying away from him the whole at bat. What do you throw this guy? The 12th and final pitch of the at bat is a slider that was right on the outside corner. Bruce lifted it to left and it was an easy catch for Xavier Nady for out number two. Whew! Scary! The Reds were down to their last out now and Scott Rolen, much like Obi Wan Kenobi, was their only hope. He takes a slider down the middle for strike one. The 0-1 pitch is a fastball way outside that’s an easy take. The 1-1 is a fastball right on the outside corner for strike 2. Reds down to their final strike now, and man has it been a battle to get them here. It’s unbelievable how the Giants have managed to pushed them this far. Romo looks in. Kicks and deals. Rolen fouls it away with a very defensive swing. Romo paces around the mound, licking his hand, climbs the bump and looks in to Buster. Fans trying to get loud as if their volume controls the at bat. The Giants closer winds and throws a little slider that backs up on Rolen who swings just underneath it to strike out to end the ballgame and the series! Romo pumps his fists, jumps, and shouts as Buster jogs out to meet him and the rest of the team runs in hooting and hollering. What an incredible uphill battle for the Giants becoming the first NL team to win a best of 5 series after being down 2-0. Also a fantastic game for Romo to put on his resume after getting 4 outs and facing 7 Reds players. Not the last game Romo would end this postseason.

The Most Important Inning – Offensively

The top of the 5th in Game 5 was when the Giants finally broke through against Latos who was only at 54 pitches entering the inning. He was pretty efficient to this point but Gregor Blanco lead things off with a base hit to left. That brought up Brandon Crawford who was 0 for the series so far. Craw was due. No way he wanted to go hitless in his first postseason. Crawford took the first two pitches low and away to get himself into a good hitter’s count. Latos couldn’t believe the call on the 2nd pitch. Reluctantly he gets back into the stretch and looks in with a stupid smirk on his face. Blanco has great speed at first so there’s a good chance he can score with a ball in a gap. He takes his lead and Latos throws the 2-0 pitch. It’s a 90mph fastball right down the middle and Crawford rips it over Votto’s leaping attempt down the right field line. Bruce was playing way off the line and it took him forever to get to the ball as it rolled around the curve of the right field corner. Blanco can low fly and was going to score easily and Crawford eased into third base with a standup triple and the Giants were on the board 1-0. Huge for Craw as he grew up a Giants fan and hadn’t had a hit yet. Now the Giants had a guy on third and nobody out for Matt Cain. Cain hits a little chopper back to Latos for the first out, bringing up Angel Pagan. Pagan’s a smart hitter and knows the situation. In the regular season, he drove in 13 of 24 (54%) runners from 3rd with less than 2 outs. He’s the right guy to have up here. Reds have the infield in hoping to cut down Craw at home on a groundball. On the 2nd pitch to Pagan, he hits a hard chopper right at SS Cozart who catches the big hop in the air and tries to come home with it, but he can’t find the handle, drops it, and eeeeverybody’s safe! 2-0 Giants on the E6. Rattled, Latos would walk Marco Scutaro on 4 pitches putting guys on 1st and 2nd while Reds fans started to squirm in their seats. There’s a meeting on the mound as Panda comes to the plate.

Batting left handed, Sandoval would line the 1-1 pitch just passed Cozart into left field. Pagan had to freeze on the line drive and only made it to 3rd but that was fine because here comes MPV candidate Buster Posey. The ultimate Good vs. Evil plate appearance. Latos’ first pitch is a fastball up and in that Buster leans out of the way on. The 2nd pitch is fouled away. Buster was 0-2 in this game and looking to do damage. Two runs here was not going to be enough. The third pitch is a fastball inside, and easy take for Buster. On the fourth pitch, Posey helps him out and swings and misses at a 93mph fastball for strike 2. 2-2 count now. The fans sense it. They want a strike out of the soon to be MVP. Great American Ballpark is now as loud as it’s been all game and their starter is a ground ball away from getting out of this inning with only giving up 2 runs. Latos leans in, holding the ball behind his back, bases full of Giants. He comes set and throws. It’s another fastball. And it’s right down the middle. To the dismay of Reds’ catcher Ryan Hanigan, Posey hammers this one deep into the Ohio sky. Latos doesn’t even look, walking off the mound towards Posey as he watches his majestic grand slam bounce off the facing of the second deck in left center field. As Posey rounds the bases the only sounds that can be heard are the other Giants players in the dugout. It was 6-0 Giants and their best hitter just came through HUGE as they knocked Latos OUT. We didn’t know it at the time but the Giants would almost need every one of those six runs as the Reds would eventually score 4 times. But Buster’s slam was the game winning hit and helped seal this series for the Giants. Mat Latos final line: 4.1 IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 4K, 79 pitches, 1 slam and the L.

Odd Stats

Buster’s slam was his only one in 2012 and I literally can’t think of a better time for his only one to have happened. At that point it was his 2nd career slam, his first coming in 2010 in Milwaukee. In 2012, if Matt Cain got 3 runs of support or more the Giants went 15-0.

The 2012 season was a magic one for Cain as he threw a perfect game, started the All Star Game, was Game 1 starter in the NLDS, and then started every series clinching game throughout the postseason (NLDS G5, NLCS G7, WS G4). A year he will never forget. The Reds have yet to win a postseason game at home in Great American Ballpark. They were one and done against the Phillies in 2010, and then went 0-3 against the Giants in 2012 and haven’t been back since. In postseason history since moving to San Francisco, the Giants have scored 6 runs in an inning three times: Games 1 and 2 of the 2010 World Series and NLDS G5 2012.

A Great At Bat

Gregor Blanco and Matt Cain became best friends forever earlier this season when Blanco saved Cain’s perfect game against the Astros with a diving catch on the warning track. Now almost 4 months later to the day, Blanco was trying to help his best friend beat the Reds in the postseason. In this particular at bat, Gregor was leading off the top of the 5th against Latos in a scoreless game. Earlier, Blanco flied out to left after a great 7 pitch, 2 strike battle and was looking to start this inning off with a rap. Latos’ first pitch to him was a slow curve ball that Blanco waved at, attempting to hack it passed Rolen at third. An ugly swing that put him in the hole immediately. Then he fouled off the 2nd pitch and was quickly down 0-2. Nothing comes easy. On the 3rd pitch of the at bat, Latos threw a fastball that just missed inside. It could have been called either way but replays showed it just inside. Latos didn’t care for the call. He leaned back on his heels grimacing at home plate umpire Tom Hallion. Not the first time Latos was showing his dispeasure on the mound, or the last. On the next pitch, Blanco fouls off a 1-2 curveball to stay alive. Battling now, making Latos work. On the 5th pitch, Blanco smokes a fastball on the outside passed Cozart into left field for a base hit. A lot of guys would have rolled that ball over to 2nd base but Blanco barreled it up and shot it into the outfield. A great at bat after being down 0-2 immediately. Three pitches later Crawford would triple down the right field line scoring Blanco and giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. The at bat by Gregor set up a huge inning for the Giants, eventually leading to the Buster Posey slam we all know and love.

For the fourth postseason series in a row, the Giants would clinch on the road and would have home field advantage over St. Louis.

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Next Blog: 2012 NLCS Game 5 – January 17, 2020