San Francisco takes Game 1 versus Vancouver

Vancouver loaded the bases in the 9th but Kenley Jansen held on after three innings of relief to give San Francisco a 3-2 win in Game 1 of the 1st round of the 2016 playoffs.

Both teams came up with 2 runs in the opening inning and then exchanged zeroes almost the rest of the way, getting quality starts out of both of their pitchers. Adam Warren went 6 innings for San Francisco, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned, while walking 4 and striking out 4 but got a no-decision. Despite 7 solid innings, Vancouver ace Johnny Cueto was tagged with the loss, yielding 3 earned runs on 6 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1.

The 3rd-seeded Experience broke through in the bottom of the 8th with Alex Gordon's second double of the game driving home Carlos Gomez with what turned out to be the winning run. Gomez, whose first-inning error gave the Iron First a run, had led off the 8th with a double.

You can't say the Iron First didn't have their chances, leaving 11 men on base, including three in the 9th! Jensen drilled Eduardo Escobar to start the 9th and pinch-hitter David Murphy singled. Charlie Blackmon flied to center with Escobar taking 3rd before David Peralta struck out. Jensen walked Stephen Vogt to load the bases before Jonathan Schoop grounded to 1st to end the game.

After the first two outs of the game, Vancouver struck first. Vogt walked, followed by three straight singles by Schoop, Prince Fielder, and J.D. Martinez, who drove in Vogt and Schoop, with some help from a Gomez error in left field.

San Francisco responded almost immediately. Gordon led off with a double and was driven in on a double by Neil Walker, who came home on a Seth Smith single to tie the game at 2. Cueto got out of the inning by picking Smith off first base. The Experience made the most of their base runners, leaving just 3 men on base.

Jansen ended up getting the win but went 3 innings, and his 56 pitches likely make him unavailable for Game 2. He struck out 3 and walked 1 while hitting a batter and giving up a single each inning.

Vancouver likely was aiming to grab a win against one of San Francisco's right-handed starters. The Achilles heel of the Iron First could be their 14-24 record against left-handers. On top of that, Vancouver was just 1-9 against San Francisco this season.

The Experience now lead 1-0 with three options when it comes to starting lefties against the Iron First: Chris Sale (14-11, 2.77), who was second in the league in K/9, Scot Kazmir (7-14, 4.45) or Patrick Corbin (9-14, 4.76). Vancouver is likely to turn to either Chris Archer (6-3, 3.64) or Felix Hernandez (4-4, 3.86), both acquired during the season, or perhaps rookie 2nd rounder Andrew Heaney (13-8, 3.54).