October 16, 2014: Travis Ishikawa hits walk-off home run to send San Francisco Giants to the World Series

On October 16, 2014 – 63 years to the month after Bobby Thomson hit “The Shot Heard ’Round the World” to give the New York Giants an improbable 1951 National League pennant – the San Francisco Giants sought to eliminate the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series for the second time in three years.

In 2012 the Cardinals lost the chance to defend their 2011 World Series championship by letting a three-games-to-one series lead slip away against San Francisco. The Giants dominated the last three games, going on to win their second World Series in three years.

This time, with the Cardinals coming off another NL pennant in 2013,1 the Giants had a 3-1 Championship Series lead as they aimed to close it out at AT&T Park.

The Game Five starter for the Giants was 25-year-old ace Madison Bumgarner, who had pitched 7⅔ scoreless innings, allowing four hits, and striking out seven, to win the first game of the series. Bumgarner had an excellent regular season, with an 18-10 record and a 2.98 ERA along with his second career All-Star Game selection. He dominated the wild-card game with a four-hit, 10-strikeout shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even his only postseason loss, in Game Three of the NL Division Series against the Washington Nationals, was a seven-inning, two-earned-run effort.

St. Louis sent out 33-year-old Adam Wainwright, their own Game One starter. He had struggled in the NLCS opener, giving up three runs on six hits in 4⅔ innings in an eventual loss. The Los Angeles Dodgers had knocked him out in the fifth inning of his only NLDS start. Wainwright, who finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting, had a 20-9 regular-season with a 2.38 ERA and an All-Star Game selection of his own.

The fifth game started with back-to-back one-out singles by the Cardinals’ Jon Jay and Matt Holliday. Bumgarner got out of the inning when shortstop Jhonny Peralta lined into a double play.

The Cardinals struck first in the top of the third, starting with a walk to catcher Tony Cruz, hitting eighth in place of injured veteran Yadier Molina.2 After Wainwright sacrificed Cruz to second, Bumgarner walked leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter. John Jay’s fly ball to left field was misplayed by Travis Ishikawa, a first baseman by default but forced into outfield service because of injuries to Michael Morse and Ángel Pagán.3 Tipped by Ishikawa, the ball rolled to the wall for a double, allowing Cruz to score for a 1-0 Cardinals lead.

The Giants fought back in the bottom half of the inning. Grégor Blanco singled with two outs. The hit brought up 23-year-old rookie second baseman Joe Panik. Panik had stabilized the position after being called up from Triple A in June, following an injury to veteran Marco Scutaro.4 The lefty Panik – who homered only once in 73 regular-season games – lined a 1-and-0 pitch over the right-field wall, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.

Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams hit a high fly ball over the right-field fence to lead off the fourth inning, tying the ballgame.5 Bumgarner bounced back with two quick outs, but Cruz – another player with just one regular-season homer – lined a ball into the left-field seats for a solo home run, giving the Cardinals the lead once again, 3-2.

Both starters settled down in the middle innings. In the bottom of the fourth, after Pablo Sandoval doubled and Hunter Pence walked, Wainwright got Giants first baseman Brandon Belt to line into a double play.

Not a single batter reached base from the top of the fifth inning through the top of the eighth. Bumgarner retired the last 13 batters he faced and exited to a standing ovation from the San Francisco faithful. He threw 98 pitches, allowing five hits.

To start the bottom of the eighth, St. Louis manager             Mike Matheny brought righty set-up man Pat Neshek into the game. The 34-year-old Neshek, an eight-year veteran, had made his first All-Star team and posted a microscopic 1.87 ERA during the regular season. He had recorded scoreless innings in the previous three games of the NLCS and was making his eighth appearance in 13 days. He had allowed only one run in his previous seven outings.

With Bumgarner’s spot due, Giants manager Bruce Bochy turned to Michael Morse to pinch-hit. The 32-year-old Morse was one of San Francisco’s most productive hitters during the season – his .811 OPS in 131 games trailed only Buster Posey’s .854 among Giants with at least 10 at-bats – but he had batted only five times since August because of an injury. This was his fourth pinch-hitting appearance of the NLCS.6

After working a 1-and-1 count to start the at-bat, Morse drove a hanging slider over the left-field wall, just inside the foul pole. The blast tied the game and was the fifth postseason pinch-hit homer in Giants history.7 AT&T Park transformed into chaos. Aided by Jay’s sliding catch of Blanco’s blooper to left, Neshek retired the next three Giants in order to maintain the tie.

Bochy called on reliever Santiago Casilla to keep the score intact. Casilla had a 1.70 ERA in the regular season through 54 games. His 19 saves were second on the team to Sergio Romo’s 23.8

Peralta started the inning with a groundout to short. Next up was Adams, hitting fifth, who worked a five-pitch walk. Left fielder Randal Grichuk followed by lining a single into left field, moving Adams to second. Daniel Descalso ran for Adams.

Second baseman Kolten Wong hit a hard grounder to third baseman Sandoval’s left. Sandoval’s diving attempt caused the ball to ricochet to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who was running to back up the play. Crawford backhanded it and fired to Panik for the force out at second.

This left Wong on first and Descalso on third. Wong stole second before Cruz drew a walk to load the bases. Right-handed-batting Peter Bourjos, who had come in to play center as part of a defensive switch in the top of the eighth, was due up. Matheny sent up 22-year-old rookie Óscar Taveras to pinch-hit. Taveras – Baseball America’s third-ranked prospect in the majors entering the season – had pinch-hit a home run against Jean Machi in Game Two.9

Bochy countered with 35-year-old lefty Jeremy Affeldt, who was pitching in his fourth playoffs and had pitched in three World Series. This was Affeldt’s seventh outing in the playoffs; he had not allowed a run in six innings of work. He was on a streak of 17 straight scoreless outings.

Taveras worked a 1-and-1 count before chopping a sinker to Affeldt’s left. Affeldt snagged the ball and sprinted to first base himself, recording the final out of the inning.10

For the bottom half of the ninth, St. Louis sent out second-year pitcher Michael Wacha for his first appearance since September 26, instead of proven closer Trevor Rosenthal. Wacha was placed on the disabled list on June 18 for a stress fracture in his shoulder. He had pitched only four times since returning from his injury, compiling a 5.40 ERA in 16⅔ innings. Wacha was mainly a starter, and this was his first relief outing of the year.

Sandoval led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Joaquín Arias. Pence flied out to right field on Wacha’s first pitch to him. Wacha then issued a four-pitch walk to Belt, putting runners on first and second.

Next up was Ishikawa, who took two straight mid-90s fastballs inside. Color commentator Harold Reynolds mused that the next pitch “was going to have to be on a platter.”

Wacha fired a low fastball that Ishikawa hooked just over the right-field wall. AT&T Park descended into chaos again while Ishikawa had an adventurous trip around the bases. After he touched second, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy ran out and wrapped him up in a hug before Ishikawa fought through him, and eventually reached home plate, setting off the celebration.

Joe Buck, calling the broadcast for Fox Sports, simply said: “Travis Ishikawa hits one into right! The Giants win the pennant!”11 The win gave the Giants their third World Series berth in five years.

Sixty-three years and 13 days after Bobby Thomson’s homer, Ishikawa became the first player to end an NLCS with a home run. He joined Thomson as the only two players to win a NL pennant with a homer.12

As Ishikawa said after the game: “It’s such a great feeling right now. I can’t even describe it.”

Bumgarner won NLCS MVP honors for allowing three runs in 15⅔ innings pitched. He continued his postseason heroics in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, pitching a complete-game shutout in Game Five and coming out of the bullpen for a five-inning save in Game Seven. Bumgarner was named the World Series MVP.

Author’s note

Watching this game with my dad as a die-hard Giants fan was one of the greatest and most cherished memories of my childhood.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com

Retrosheet.org

New York Times

New York Daily News

The Sporting News

SF Gate

International Business Times

MLB.com

Additionally, the author consulted the YouTube recording of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm3bfVzPbUI

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201410160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2014/B10160SFN2014.htm

Notes

1 The Cardinals lost the 2013 World Series to the Boston Red Sox, four games to two.

2 Molina, who was selected for his sixth career All-Star Game in 2014 and went on to receive his seventh career Gold Glove, suffered an injury in Game Two and didn’t play again during the series. Veteran A.J. Pierzynski had started Games Three and Four at catcher, with Cruz behind the plate for Game Five.

3 Ishikawa, a member of San Francisco’s 2010 World Series champions, had returned to the Giants in April 2014 after the Pirates waived him. After only three regular-season games in left, Ishikawa became the starting left fielder for the playoffs. Billy Witz, “Giants’ Travis Ishikawa Makes the Most of a Chance to Revive His Career,” New York Times, October 12, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/sports/baseball/travis-ishikawa-sparks-san-francisco-giants-and-revives-sagging-career.html.

4 Anthony McCarron, “San Francisco Giants Rookie Star from NY, Joe Panik, Is a Big Hit,” New York Daily News, October 7, 2014, https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/10/07/san-francisco-giants-rookie-star-from-ny-joe-panik-is-a-big-hit/.

5 The homer was a moment of redemption for Adams, who had made two crucial errors in the sixth inning of Game Four, leading to the Giants taking the lead and going on to win the game. Jesse Spector, “Adams’ Defense Costs Cardinals in Game Four Loss,” The Sporting News, October 16, 2014, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/2014-mlb-playoffs-nlcs-game-4-cardinals-giants-matt-adams-defense-gregor-blanco-joe-panik/11yse330wj7fx1afhm1z6pxr59.

6 John Shea, “Planning, Rehab Went into Morse’s Pinch Home Run,” SF Gate, October 17, 2014, https://www.sfgate.com/sports/shea/article/Planning-rehab-went-into-Morse-s-pinch-home-run-5828723.php

7 The other four were by Dusty Rhodes (1954 World Series, Game One, vs. Cleveland Indians), Harry Spilman (1987 NLCS, Game Three, vs. St. Louis), Bill Bathe (1989 World Series, Game Three, vs. Oakland A’s), and J.T. Snow (2000 NLDS, Game Two, vs. New York Mets).

8 Casilla and Romo shared the duties of closer during the season, but Bochy had used Castilla in ninth-inning save situations in Games One and Four of the NLCS. In Game Two Romo had allowed Adams’ game-winning home run in the ninth inning.

9 Tavaras, a lefty, was brought out to force Bochy’s hand. The manager decided to bring in Affeldt. Taveras remained in the game despite Affeldt’s entrance.

10 It was Taveras’s final major-league appearance. On October 26, 10 days after the game, he was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Maria Vultaggio, “How Did Oscar Taveras Die? Cardinals Teammates Remember Outfielder After He Was Killed at 22,” International Business Times, October 26, 2014, https://www.ibtimes.com/how-did-oscar-taveras-die-cardinals-teammates-remember-outfielder-after-he-was-killed-22-1713393

11 FOX television broadcast, “NLCS G5: Cardinals vs. Giants [Full Game HD],” YouTube video (FlyingHellFish99), 2:14:56. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm3bfVzPbUI. Accessed August 13, 2024.

12 Through the 2023 season, four players have ended the American League Championship Series with home runs: Chris Chambliss (1976 New York Yankees), Aaron Boone (2003 Yankees), Magglio Ordoñez (2006 Detroit Tigers), and José Altuve (2019 Houston Astros).