Rick Ankiel hit a mammoth splashdown homer in the 11th inning to lift the Atlanta Braves to a come-from-behind, 5-4 victory over the host San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series on Friday night.
Ankiel’s one-out blast off Ramon Ramirez (0-1) sailed far over the right field fence and landed in McCovey Cove as Atlanta overcame a four-run deficit to tie the best-of-5 series at 1-1.
Game 3 is Sunday in Atlanta.
Winning pitcher Kyle Farnsworth (1-0) set the stage for Atlanta’s 26th final at-bat victory of the season by getting Giants catcher Buster Posey to hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th.
San Francisco led 4-0 after two innings. Pat Burrell hit a three-run homer in the first and pitcher Matt Cain had a run-scoring single in the second.
Brian McCann singled in Atlanta’s first run in the sixth and the Braves tied the contest by scoring three eighth-inning runs off San Francisco’s normally reliable bullpen.
Giants closer Brian Wilson replaced an ineffective Sergio Romo and saw one run score on Pablo Sandoval’s throwing error before giving up Alex Gonzalez’s game-tying two-run double.
Cain went 6 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run and seven hits. He struck out six and walked two.
Braves closer Billy Wagner had to leave the game with an undisclosed injury in the 10th.
Atlanta | San Francisco | |
Tommy Hanson | Player | Matt Cain |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
4.0 | IP | 6.2 |
5 | Strikeouts | 6 |
5 | Hits | 7 |
9.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Atlanta | San Francisco | |
Brian McCann | Player | Pat Burrell |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 3 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 6 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Atlanta | 11 | 1 | 15 | .256 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
San Francisco | 10 | 1 | 15 | .250 | 14 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |