Small ball earns Giants 2-0 edge

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Madison Bumgarner pitched two-hit ball over seven innings, Brandon Crawford drove in the go-ahead run with a double-play grounder after a key bunt stopped just fair along the third-base line and the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 World Series lead.

Bumgarner, who lost both his starts in the NL playoffs, struck out eight and walked two, and Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo finished with perfect relief.

Hunter Pence led off the seventh with a single off Doug Fister, and reliever Drew Smyly walked Brandon Belt. Gregor Blanco’s bunt stopped on the dirt up the third-base line, 3 to 4 inches fair. With the infield in at the corners, Crawford grounded to second baseman Omar Infante.

Pence added a sacrifice fly in the eighth off Octavio Dotel.

Forty-one of 52 teams to take 2-0 leads have gone on to win the title. The Giants swept the first two games at home two years ago against Texas en route to their first championship since 1954.

When the Series resumes in Detroit on Saturday night, midseason acquisition Anibal Sanchez starts for the Tigers and Ryan Vogelsong for San Francisco. The temperature in the Motor City is expected to be in the low-to-mid 40s.

After tying the Series record by homering three times during San Francisco’s 8-3 win in the opener, the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval was 1 for 3 with a sixth-inning single and an intentional walk.