Recap: Giants win 8-5, Fans Take Over Citi Field

Sep 17, 2013; New York, NY, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder

(16) hits an RBI single against the New York Mets during the second inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On a night when Citi Field in New York sounded like AT&T Park East, the Giants beat the Mets by a score of 8-5. Angel Pagan led the charge with a 3 for 3 night including a solo home run in the top of the 7th that broke a 4-4 tie.

The party started early for Giants fans. Finnerty’s, the bay area bar located in New York, has buses of Giants fans heading to every game in NYC this week. Here’s the fun before the game.

As for the game, the scoring started in the 2nd inning as former Giants farm hand Zack Wheeler could not find the zone. Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval started the inning with walks. With one out Tony Abreu also walked to load the bases. If there was any doubt that Wheeler didn’t have it on this night, he confirmed it by walking Giants starting pitcher Yusmeiro Petit to force in the first Giants run.

Angel Pagan came up and stroked a single to right field to plate Sandoval. Gregor Blanco got an RBI when his fielder’s choice scored Abreu and gave the Giants an early 3-0 lead.

The Mets did not go away easily as they came back and took the lead in the bottom of the 4th. Petit walked Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda back to back to lead off the inning. That led to 3 runs by the Mets, capped off by a botched run down that allowed Wilmer Flores to score and give the Mets the 4-3 advantage.

But these aren’t the Giants we have seen all season. This is the team we expected when 2013 started. Pagan led off the 5th with his second walk. He eventually moved around to 3rd base and scored on a Buster Posey ground out to tie the game at 4.

In the top of the 7th inning Angel Pagan hit his first home run since his inside the park walk off. It was a bomb to left field that landed just a section over from the mass of Giants fans sitting in left field. The Giants had a 5-4 lead and all was right with the world. Giants fans at Citi Field rejoiced.

The Giants added 2 runs in the 8th to make it 7-4 on a Tony Abreu double and an Angel Pagan triple.

Angel Pagan reached base in all 5 trips to the plate tonight and fell a double short of the cycle. But hey, we’ll take it. This team is completely different when he is leading off.

Hunter Pence was feeling left out and stroked a single up the middle in the top of the 9th to extend the lead to 8-4. He now has 20 RBI over the last 7 games, and has driven in a run in each of those games. He now has 93 RBI on the season and the 100 mark is well within his reach.

Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the 9th. Sandy Rosario walked the leadoff hitter and then left with an apparent stiff back. This forced Sergio Romo in the game in a non save situation. The Mets threatened, even pushing across a run to make it 8-5, but Sergio retired the last couple of hitters to seal the victory.

Yusmeiro Petit improved his record to 4-0 as a Giants starter. It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was interesting.

I said it on Twitter during the game, and I’ll say it again. This was the most fun I have had watching a baseball game between 2 teams completely out of it. That’s all because of the fans. They never say die, and don’t quit. Even @MLBJesus joined the party.

Game 2 is tomorrow night at Citi Field and expect more of the same fun from Giants fans. Matt Cain (8-9, 4.24) takes the mound against Aaron Harang (0-1, 4.50) with first pitch slated for 4:10pt. Giants fans are enjoying the trip back to the team’s roots, so let’s keep this party going.