Marco Scutaro comes up big again for Giants

• Theriot starts off rally with leadoff single
• Scutaro's single to right-center scores Theriot
• Veteran infielder was NLCS MVP

DETROIT -- Matt Cain is superstitious, which puts him in the vast majority of baseball players.

Thus, the San Francisco Giants ace pitcher was a little nervous when Marco Scutaro stepped to the plate with a chance to drive in the World Series-winning run.

"You worry that maybe he's used up all his clutch hits," Cain said. "You wonder if the baseball gods are going to turn against him. But he had one more left him and it was the biggest one we needed."

Scutaro's two-out single to right-center field in the top of the 10th inning gave the Giants a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 4 at Comerica Park on Sunday night and a sweep of the series.

With the score tied 3-3, designated hitter Ryan Theriot -- who lost his starting job when the Giants acquired Scutaro on July 26 -- started the winning rally with a leadoff single off Phil Coke.

Theriot moved to second on Brandon Crawford's sacrifice bunt. Coke came back to strike out Angel Pagan for the second out.

However, Scutaro then singled to right-center field to score Theriot with the winning run as the Giants wrapped up their second championship in three seasons.

"It's one of those moments he always has as a clutch hitter," said Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, voted MVP of the series. "I was waiting for that moment when he came up to bat. He did a lot of things for this team and he got the biggest hit of all."

The Giants got Scutaro, a 36-year-old journeyman, from the Colorado Rockies in a trade for minor-league infield Charlie Culberson. He hit .362 in 61 games in the regular season.

Scutaro then batted .328 in the postseason, going 21-for-64 in 16 games as the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series and the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the NL Division Series before making short work of the Tigers in the World Series.

Scutaro was at his best in the NLCS when he went 14-for-28 (.500) and was named the MVP.

After going 2-for-4 in the World Series, he went a combined 0-for-8 in Games 2 and 3. However, Scutaro bounced back to go 2-for-4 in Game 4 as he also singled and scored on Buster Posey's home run in the sixth inning that put the Giants ahead 3-2.

"I always knew he was a good player but I honestly didn't realize he was this good of a player until I had a chance to be around him every day," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He did so much for this club and he got so many big hits. I felt good with him being up in that spot in the 10th inning."

Scutaro has spent 11 seasons in the major leagues with the New York Mets (2002-03), Oakland (2004-07), Toronto (2008-09) and Boston (2010-11) before spending this season with the Rockies and Giants.

"He earned this situation right here, being a World Series champ," Sandoval said. "He's been through a lot of things in his career, so he earned this."