Ford, Burriss key Giants' walk-off win in 11th

JustinVerlander35 · May 22, 2011

The Giants took a two-run deficit into the eighth inning but emerged victorious in the bottom of the 11th, completing the sweep with a 5-4 win over the A's before a sold-out crowd of 42,288 at AT&T Park on Sunday.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy has praised Darren Ford and Emmanuel Burriss, little-used reserves primarily brought in as baserunning and defensive specialists, for the versatility and flexibility their talents afford him.

And when San Francisco cleared nearly its entire bench in Sunday's 11-inning showdown, Ford and Burriss stepped up and showed their potential.

Ford, generally used to pinch-run, smacked a one-out single into right field and stole second in the 11th. A's lefty Brian Fuentes intentionally walked Buster Posey to bring Burriss to the plate. Burris, moved back onto the roster when Mark DeRosa went on the 15-day disabled list, knocked a line drive to right field to score the speedy Ford from second, giving the Giants their 13th win at home -- the 11th by one run and their seventh on a walk-off hit.

For a moment, however, it seemed as if the A's had mounted the day's last comeback.

Jonathan Sanchez only gave up one run on five hits and two walks through six innings of work, but left-hander Jeremy Affeldt started off the seventh by giving up a single to Cliff Pennington, and Gio Gonzalez's sacrifice bunt moved the runner into scoring position. Coco Crisp doubled and Daric Barton knocked a single to left, erasing the Giants' lead and giving the A's a 3-2 advantage. They padded their lead in the eighth when Mark Ellis scored on Hideki Matsui's sacrifice fly to left field.

Nate Schierholtz erased the margin and swung the momentum with one tough at-bat in the bottom of the eighth, ending an eight-pitch battle against right-hander Grant Balfour with a pinch-hit home run over the right-field wall -- also scoring Miguel Tejada, who led off the inning with a single to center field.
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Read more- http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_22_oakmlb_sfnmlb_1&mode=recap_home&c_id=sf

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Ford, Burriss key Giants' walk-off win in 11th

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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Ford, Burriss key Giants' walk-off win in 11th

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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