Rick Ankiel hit a solo home run in the 11th inning to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
The victory evens the National League Division Series at 1-1. The series now shifts to Atlanta.
“I was just looking for a pitch to drive, and got lucky and put a good swing on it,” Ankiel said. “And I can’t explain how I feel right now. I’d say this is the pinnacle of everything I’ve ever done. To win a playoff game with a home run, I mean, that’s where it’s at.”
The Braves rallied from an early 4-0 deficit, scoring one run in the sixth inning and then adding three more in the eighth off Giants reliever Brian Wilson, who led the National League with 48 saves during the season.
Atlanta also got some help from a pair of errors by the Giants.
“It just seems like our resiliency has paid off for us all season and its fun to be a part of,” Ankiel said.
The Braves had 25 wins in their final at-bats during the season.
San Francisco missed an opportunity to salvage a win when they loaded the bases with one out in the 10th inning, but failed to score as Buster Posey grounded into a double-play.
Six Braves relievers combined to pitch seven scoreless innings, with Kyle Farnsworth picking up the victory.
“You have to give it up for them [the bullpen], they have been strong all season,” said Ankiel, a former pitcher himself. “To come out here and get out of the bases-loaded jam was unbelievable. It gave a chance to the offense to put a run up.”
The Braves had the best home record in baseball this season going 56-25 at Turner Field.
“I think we’re feeling pretty good,” Ankiel said. “We’ve played good at home all year, and we’ll go out there and give Huddy [Tim Hudson] the ball. He’s been fabulous all year. I think it’s in our favor.”
Pat Burrell gave the Giants an early lead with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and the Giants added another run in the second inning when staring pitcher Matt Cain drove in Cody Ross with an RBI single.
Cain pitched six-and-two-third innings, allowing just one unearned run on seven hits and two walks, while striking out six.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later