Cardinals' bullpen proves dominant again in Game 3
- The Cardinals lead the NLCS 2-1
- Giants' Hunter Pence has been struggling in the playoffs
ST. LOUIS -- The San Francisco Giants keep getting into the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen — and keep paying the price.
The Giants knocked Game 1 starter Lance Lynn out in the fourth inning but were dominated by the Cardinals relievers the rest of the way in a 6-4 loss.
It happened again Wednesday in Game 3, as the Giants were unable to generate offense against the Cardinals' deep, hard-throwing relief corps in a 3-1 defeat.
With the Cardinals clinging to a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, right-hander Trevor Rosenthal came in firing 100-mph fastballs to Angel Pagan with two outs and two runners on.
With the count 2-2, Pagan grounded into a fielder's choice on a 101-mph fastball to end the threat.
An inning later, Mitchell Boggs came in to deal with another jam — two on, one out — and fed Giants struggling No. 5 hitter Hunter Pence a steady diet of sliders away, striking him out on a 2-2 pitch, then got Brandon Belt looking at a backdoor slider on a 1-2 pitch.
After a rain delay of almost 3 1/2 hours, Cardinals closer Jason Motte nonchalantly twirled a two-inning save.
As in Game 1, it was a dominant performance by the St. Louis bullpen, which is overpowering Giants hitters in clutch situations.
"Hopefully, we can get runs earlier in the game and we won't have to worry about their bullpen," said Pagan, the Giants' leadoff man. "We had some opportunities tonight and didn't take advantage."
In the seventh, Pence and Belt had chances to erase the Cardinals' 2-1 lead.
Pence, who got credit as a master motivator for his pregame speeches in the Giants' NL Division Series comeback against the Cincinnati Reds, has not helped the Giants much with his oratory or his bat in this series.
His seventh-inning strikeout made him 1-for-11 in the series and 9-for-50 (.180 average) in his modest playoff career, which includes five games with the Philadelphia Phillies last year and eight with the Giants this year.
He was 0-for-4 Wednesday and left five men on base.
"I'm the goat today," Pence said. "I just didn't get the job done in big opportunities. I'm going to come back tomorrow and I'll be hungry."
A .285 lifetime hitter, Pence came to the Giants on July 31 in a trade-deadline deal and hit .219 the rest of the way, though he drove in 45 runs, giving him 104 RBI for the season.
Failures like Pence's are turning into a pattern against the Cardinals bullpen.
"He threw a lot of sliders and throws pretty hard," Pence said of his at-bat against Boggs. "I chased some balls out of the zone."
In Game 1, Lynn was replaced by Joe Kelly, who was followed by Mark Rzepczynski, Trevor Rosenthal, Edward Mujica, Mitchell Boggs and Motte.
The relievers combined for 3 1/2 scoreless innings, with Mujica getting the win and Motte a save.
On Wednesday in Game 3, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse was lifted after 5
Motte, asked to protect a 3-1 lead for two innings, made quick work of the job.
The rain delay had been long and dull. Thanks to the Cardinals bullpen, the denouement was brief and, according to fans, satisfying.
"They're difficult to score off," Pence said of the St. Louis 'pen. "But we definitely can."