Pablo Sandoval went 4-for-4 with three home runs and Barry Zito yielded just one earned run in 5 2/3 innings as the Giants rocked and rolled to an 8-3 victory over the Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday evening in San Francisco.
Sandoval smashed a solo shot to right-center field in the bottom of the first inning, a two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the third and another solo bomb to right-center in the bottom of the fifth. He’s just the fourth player to homer three times in a World Series game -- joining Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols -- and his three-homer performance was only the second such feat in the 12-year history of AT&T Park (regular season games included).
This from a guy who had just 12 regular-season home runs this year and a mediocre .812 career postseason OPS before the night began. Sandoval is now batting .270/.386/.778 in these 2012 playoffs.
The Tigers, meanwhile, couldn’t figure out Zito and had an even tougher time against Tim Lincecum, who struck out five of the seven batters he faced in relief while surrendering no hits and zero walks.
Detroit starter Justin Verlander entered his Game 1 outing boasting a 0.74 ERA in 24-plus innings this postseason, but he was lifted in the top of the fifth inning after giving up five earned runs on six hits.
The Giants will look to go up 2-0 on Thursday night when Madison Bumgarner faces Doug Fister.
