NLDS Game 2, Giants vs Nationals final score: Brandon Belt powers Giants past Nationals in 18 innings

1. 90. 2. 40. Final

The San Francisco Giants outlasted the Washington Nationals in the longest game in postseason history, winning 2-1 in 18 innings.

Pablo Sandoval. Yusmeiro Petit. Brandon Belt. Those are the heroes of Giants vs Nationals as San Francisco won the longest playoff game in baseball history by a final score of 2-1.

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After a two-out Giants’ rally in the 9th inning tied things up, this game went a cool 18 innings before things were settled. Petit worked an incredible six shutout innings out of the bullpen, all in extra innings.

That gave Belt his opportunity, and he delivered with the winning home run in the top of the 18th inning.

The word underrated gets thrown around far too often in sports. Often it states the obvious to say somebody is “underrated,” and in other cases it just doesn’t apply at all. But in the case of Washington Nationals’ ace Jordan Zimmermann, it is appropriate to say that he is criminally underrated. Zimmermann threw an absolute gem in this game, but fell one out short of a complete game and left Nationals’ fans wondering what could have been.

Zimmermann almost went the distance, allowing no runs, surrendering just three hits, walking just one batter, and striking out six over 8.2 innings of work. He threw 100 pitches. Drew Storen came out of the bullpen for the save, unable to strand two runners and coughing up the lead.

There should be plenty of conversation about the decision from Matt Williams to pull Zimmermann because the Giants forced extra innings. Buster Posey singled off Storen, and then Sandoval delivered the RBI double.

Things got tense in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Nationals were unhappy with the strike zone all night, and that frustration came to a head as Adrubal Cabrera and manager Matt Williams both got ejected for arguing balls and strikes. As it turned out, that frustration carried over into the rest of the night as the Nationals simply could not get anything going on offense.

Tim Hudson was spectacular in his start in the first half of this game, going 7.1 innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. The Giants’ bullpen then worked clean innings forever to keep the score close and give their team a chance to pull out the win.

As for the Nationals, their offense went completely quiet. Other than Anthony Rendon contributing four hits and the team’s only RBI, nobody did much of anything. For example: Bryce Harper went 0-7 in this game.

After Petit carried the day in extra innings, Hunter Strickland came on in the 18th inning for the save. Yes, that means Bruce Bochy had his closer of the future available for the 18th inning, and yes, that means Bruce Bochy is a better manager than your manager.

The Giants seem to specialize in winning games like this one. They were down to their final out, came back to tie it, and then played an entire second game and shut out the Nationals. They got the clutch hit that they always seem to get, and now they are headed home to San Francisco with a 2-0 series lead.

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