Nationals-Giants Game 4: Did you know?
It wasn't easy, but the Giants got the job done on Tuesday night, as they have so often in recent years. Their hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Nationals in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at AT&T Park gave them a 3-1 series win and sent them on to face the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series. San Francisco now sits four victories away from its third trip to the World Series in five years.
Here's what you should know from Game 4:
• The Giants' win was their 38th in the postseason since 2000, putting them fourth, behind the Cardinals, Yankees and Red Sox.
• All three of San Francisco's victories in the series came by one run, with the teams both scoring nine total runs. The only other team to plate as few as nine runs while winning a Division Series was the 1998 Yankees during a three-game sweep of the Rangers.
Ryan is VogelStrong
Lowest postseason ERA (minimum 30 innings)| Player | IP | ERA |
|---|---|---|
| Mariano Rivera | 141 | 0.70 |
| Harry Brecheen | 32 2/3 | 0.83 |
| Babe Ruth | 31 | 0.87 |
| Sherry Smith | 30 1/3 | 0.89 |
| Sandy Koufax | 57 | 0.95 |
| Christy Mathewson | 101 2/3 | 0.97 |
| Monte Pearson | 35 2/3 | 1.01 |
| Blue Moon Odom | 39 2/3 | 1.13 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 30 1/3 | 1.19 |
| Eddie Plank | 54 2/3 | 1.32 |
| Bill Hallahan | 39 2/3 | 1.36 |
• The Giants are 26-10 in the postseason since 2010, winning all seven of their series, plus this year's NL Wild Card Game.
• With the Giants and Cardinals set to meet in the NLCS, one of them will be representing the NL in the World Series for the fifth straight year. The last time two NL clubs managed that was from 1991-96 (excluding the '94 strike year), when the Braves made four World Series and the Phillies appeared in one.
• By holding the Nats to one run over 5 2/3 innings, Ryan Vogelsong became the first pitcher in Major League history to allow no more than one run in each of his first five career postseason starts.
Deferring only to El Duque
Lowest ERA through first five postseason starts| Player | IP | ERA |
|---|---|---|
| Orlando Hernandez | 37 | 0.97 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 30 1/3 | 1.19 |
| Bill Hallahan | 37 1/3 | 1.21 |
| George Earnshaw | 38 2/3 | 1.40 |
| John Smoltz | 37 2/3 | 1.43 |
• Vogelsong, whose previous four playoff outings all came in 2012, has given up a total of four runs in 30 1/3 postseason innings. That gives him a 1.19 ERA, good for ninth all time among pitchers with at least 30 innings. It's also second best for a pitcher's first five postseason starts, behind Orlando Hernandez's 0.97 ERA.
• Vogelsong, who laid down a key bunt single while trying to sacrifice in the second inning, had no previous bunt hits in 313 career plate appearances, including the postseason. He hit .097 in 144 at-bats from 2012-14.
• Bryce Harper's game-tying solo blast into McCovey Cove in the seventh inning was just the third "splash hit" at AT&T Park in postseason history, and the second by an opposing player.
• That homer made Harper the second player, after Miguel Cabrera in 2003, to go deep at least three times in a single playoff series at age 21 or younger. It also was Harper's fourth career postseason long ball, tying him with Cabrera, Andruw Jones and Mickey Mantle for the most by a player before turning 22.
Power source
Most postseason extra-base hits before age 22| Player | Tm | 2B | 3B | HR | XBH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryce Harper | Was. | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Mickey Mantle | NYY | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Miguel Cabrera | Fla. | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Andruw Jones | Atl. | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Xander Bogaerts | Bos. | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Edgar Renteria | Fla. | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Wayne Garrett | NYM | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Joe DiMaggio | NYY | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Jimmie Foxx | Phi. | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
• Harper also doubled earlier in the game, giving him seven extra-base hits out of eight total hits in his postseason career. No other player in history has collected seven postseason extra-base hits before turning 22.
• San Francisco's win sends pitcher Tim Hudson to the LCS round for the first time in his career. The 39-year-old, who started Game 2, had played for eight playoff teams that were all unable to advance that far.
• With the exception of rookie Hunter Strickland, who served up three homers, the Giants' bullpen combined to allow one run in 16 1/3 innings in the series.
• By going four innings, Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez has lasted five or fewer frames in each of his three career playoff outings, with a total of 14.
• Nats starters combined to give up two earned runs in the series. Stephen Strasburg allowed one in Game 1, and Jordan Zimmermann one in Game 2, though it scored after he exited one out shy of a shutout. Overall, Washington surrendered just six earned runs -- plus three unearned -- in the four games.
• By retiring all four batters he faced, Nationals reliever Jerry Blevins closed out his season by getting 26 of the last 28 men he faced, with 13 strikeouts. He threw 3 1/3 perfect innings in the series.
• San Francisco's pitchers held hitters other than Harper and Anthony Rendon to a combined 14-for-123 (.114) with two doubles, one home run, two RBIs, nine walks and 34 strikeouts in the series.
• This will be the fourth Giants-Cardinals NLCS, after 2012, '02 and 1987. That ties it with Royals-Yankees for the third-most common LCS matchup, behind Dodgers-Phillies and Pirates-Reds, which both have occurred five times.