The San Francisco Giants took a 2-0 lead in the World Series against the Detroit Tigers at AT&T Park in game two of the best-of-seven series.
Having posted an 8-3 win in Wednesday night's opener, Pablo Sandoval becoming only the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, the Giants took another significant step towards a second title in three years with another impressive 2-0 home win.
The two starting pitchers - San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner and Detroit's Doug Fister - matched each other blow for blow in the early part of game two to ensure it was 0-0 through six innings.
Brandon Crawford drove in the go-ahead run with a double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, though, and Hunter Pence added an insurance run for San Francisco with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
The Tigers were limited to two hits by Bumgarner and relievers Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo, the former striking out eight in seven shutout innings.
The teams will travel to Detroit on Friday before continuing the series with game three at Comerica Park on Saturday night.
Bumgarner said on www.mlb.com: "It definitely feels a whole lot better than having our backs against the wall."
Reflecting on the regular-season trips to Detroit, he added: "They were stressful series. Both the series we played there were tough. It's nice, but we can't relax. We got to keep pushing."
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