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It was Pelltier vs. 2-time All Star Carl Randle to open the NLCS and after a quiet 1st inning, Giant 3B Julio Lugo committed a 1-out error and after Higginson singled him home to give us a 1-0 and Andujar Cedeno immediately doubled in Higginson to extend the lead to 2-0.
With 2 outs in the 4th, Sheffield doubled home Lugo to slice the lead in half and then an inning later, another 2 out hit, this time by Ruben Rivera tied this up at 2. The 5th passed without any action but we regained the lead in the bottom of the 6th on a Williams sac fly.
Bret Boone drew a leadoff walk in the 7th and then Frias made a throwing error when Troy O'Leary tried to bunt Boone over to 2nd and the Giants had runners on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out. Dan Wilson followed that up with an opposite field double and just like that, the Giants had a 4-3 lead. Marvin Bernard hit a 2-out single to score Wilson and it was 5-3.
In the bottom half, Higginson singled and pinch hitter Dion James walked, but Brown hit into an innings ending double play to end that threat. The Giants loaded the bases off McMichael in the 8th with Young and Boone singling and an O'Leary walk, but Trey Salinas grounded into a double play to end that.
The Giants sent Mark Gubicza out in the 8th and Brown met him with a lead off single. After retiring Jefferies and Erstad, Frias hit an opposite field 2-run homer just over the wall and we had ourselves a 5-5 game.
I brought in BJ Ryan to pitch the 9th and after 9 pitches to Rivera leading off the inning, Ryan surrendered a solo home run to give the Giants a 6-5 lead. The Giants brought in Andrew Conter to close it out, and he struck out Higginson, Cedeno and pinch hitter Carlsen to end it and the Giants had a 1-0 series lead
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