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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Highway 62 bypass — just get it done ... Cooking up some fun ... After six years, wilderness trail is open ... Our View: Highway 62 bypass — just get it done ... Cooking up some fun ... After six years, wilderness trail is open ... MLB PLAYOFFS Peavy pitches Giants past Nationals Comment By The Associated Press MailTribune.com By The Associated Press Posted Oct. 4, 2014 at 2:00 AM By The Associated Press Posted Oct. 4, 2014 at 2:00 AM » Social News WASHINGTON — Put Jake Peavy on the San Francisco Giants, and he suddenly turns into quite a postseason performer. Same for a couple of rookies, Hunter Strickland and Joe Panik. Seems that October aura manager Bruce Bochy has cultivated with the Giants rubs off on anyone joining the club. The intense Peavy took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, Strickland and the rest of San Francisco’s rested bullpen barely protected a lead, and the wild-card Giants won their league-record ninth consecutive postseason game by beating Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Friday in an NL Division Series opener. “Nobody is scared of the moment,” said Peavy, who won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award with San Diego and last year’s World Series with Boston, but was 0-3 with a 9.27 ERA in five previous starts beyond the regular season. “We understand that we might not be, man for man, the favorites.” Perhaps they should be. Peavy, the 33-year-old right-hander with the tattoo sleeve on his left arm, finally earned his first postseason win, allowing only two hits in 5 2-3 scoreless innings, and getting plenty of help. Strickland spent much of the season at High-A and Double-A in the minors, and has all of seven major league innings on his resume, but struck out Ian Desmond swinging at a 100 mph fastball with the bases loaded in the sixth after Peavy left, cussing up a storm. Panik provided a nice defensive play at second base to end the seventh and contributed one of San Francisco’s three RBI singles. No swinging from the heels for this bunch. No costly misplays in the field, either, such as the passed ball by Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos that led to an unearned run. That was one of a couple examples of jumpy play by a Washington team that won its division and led the NL with 96 wins but has never won a postseason series. Under Bochy, the Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012. They have not lost a postseason game since trailing 3-1 against St. Louis in the NLCS two years ago. When the lights are brightest, San Francisco comes through. “We’ve done it so many times now, it seems to be part of our DNA,” said Hunter Pence, who stole a base in the fourth and came home on Brandon Belt’s hit off Strasburg. “But I think the thing that we know is: What’s in the past is in the past, and we’ve got to move forward and we’ve got to be ready for the game tomorrow. Because if not, they’ll jump all over us.” Game 2 is today, with Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann — who threw a no-hitter in the regular-season finale — facing Tim Hudson. Strasburg took the loss in his playoff debut; he was shut down in 2012 to protect his surgically repaired elbow. He showed up with his best material Friday, reaching 99 mph. “He gave us a chance,” manager Matt Williams said. “Jake was a little bit better.” The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2009 lasted five-plus innings, allowing eight hits — all singles, all to center or right field — and two runs, one earned. He tied for the NL lead this season with a career-high 242 strikeouts, but only managed two, in part because the Giants rarely missed. “Wasn’t like they were hitting me all around the yard,” Strasburg said. “Hit it where we weren’t.” CARDINALS 10, DODGERS 9: At Los Angeles, Matt Carpenter hit a go-ahead, three-run double off a wilting Clayton Kershaw in an eight-run seventh inning as St. Louis Cardinals rallied in a fiery NL Division Series opener. It was 92 degrees at game time, and things quickly got more heated during a surprising slugfest. St. Louis overcame a five-run deficit against Kershaw and held on when Trevor Rosenthal blew a 100 mph fastball past Yasiel Puig with a runner on third to end a back-and-forth game that lasted nearly four hours. In a matchup of 20-games winners, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright hit Puig with a pitch leading off the third, triggering a bench-clearing scrum. There was shoving and shouting, but no punches were thrown. Wainwright succumbed first on the mound, allowing six runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings. But Kershaw failed once again in the postseason. The left-hander whose 1.77 ERA led the major leagues for the fourth consecutive year came in eager to erase the memory of his poor showing in Game 6 of last year’s NL Championship Series, when the Dodgers were eliminated by the Cardinals. And Kershaw dominated through the first six innings, retiring 16 in a row between homers by Randal Grichuk and Carpenter. But he collapsed in a shaky seventh, when he gave up five of the Cardinals’ eight runs and became the first pitcher in postseason history to allow seven runs in consecutive starts. He yielded that many in losing Game 6 last year. Kershaw, a heavy favorite to win a third Cy Young Award in four years, fell to 1-4 with a career 5.19 ERA in the postseason. American League ROYALS 4, ANGELS 1, 11 inn.: At Anaheim, Calif., Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning, and surprising Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series. Alex Gordon had an early run-scoring single and Salvador Perez added an RBI infield single in the 11th for the Royals, who became the first team in major league history to win three straight extra-inning playoff games. In its first postseason appearance since 1985, Kansas City's playoff roll just can't be slowed by the majors' best regular-season team. Hosmer had three hits and scored two runs as the Royals moved to the brink of the AL Championship Series. Game 3 in the best-of-five series is today in Kansas City, where Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson faces James Shields. ORIOLES 7, TIGERS 6: At Baltimore, Baltimore once again battered Detroit’s shaky bullpen and pushed the Tigers to the brink of playoff elimination. Pinch-hitter Delmon Young lined a three-run double during a four-run rally in the eighth inning that sent the Orioles to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL Division Series. J.J. Hardy made a nifty slide home, touching the plate with his hand barely ahead of the tag, for the go-ahead run. A Camden Yards crowd that saw the O’s fall behind Justin Verlander 5-2 in the early going erupted in an orange wave. By The Associated Press MailTribune.com By The Associated Press Posted Oct. 4, 2014 at 2:00 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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