Major League Baseball

Usually reliable Giants bullpen falters

Published Oct. 9, 2010 7:17 a.m. ET

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The usually reliable San Francisco bullpen faltered when it mattered most for the Giants.

Sergio Romo and closer Brian Wilson could not preserve a three-run lead in the eighth inning and Ramon Ramirez allowed a solo homer to Rick Ankiel in the 11th as the Giants fell 5-4 to the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the NL division series Friday night.

''When I'm called upon, I enjoy being the stopper,'' Wilson said. ''When the skipper asks me to come out, regardless of the situation, I feel like I should be able to get out of it.''

Instead of heading to Atlanta with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, the Giants now don't know if they'll have another game at home all season. The series is tied at one win apiece with the next two games in Atlanta.

It was a shocking turnaround from where the game was headed into the eighth inning.

The Giants held a 4-1 lead, having allowed only one unearned run all series. They were six outs from being in control before it all started to fall apart.

Derrek Lee started the rally with a leadoff single against Romo and went to third on Brian McCann's single. The Giants then called on Wilson, who has never had a six-out save in his career, according to STATS LLC.

''Sometimes the save can be in the eighth inning,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''He was fresh and we're trying to stop it then. At that point we're going with our closer to try to get out of the eighth. I have no concern with Willie going two innings.''

Wilson did lead the majors this season with 10 saves of longer than an inning but he couldn't come through in his first career postseason appearance. He wouldn't blame coming in so early for his mishap, calling that a ''crutch.''

''My job basically is to go out there and get those three outs and worry about the next inning when it comes up,'' Wilson said. ''That can't happen. It can't happen in the postseason. I obviously take full credit.''

He got Melky Cabrera to hit a slow roller toward third that scored Atlanta's second run. Pablo Sandoval's throw to first pulled Aubrey Huff off the bag for an error, but Cabrera looked as though he would have beaten the throw anyway.

After a sacrifice bunt by Brooks Conrad, Alex Gonzalez tied it with his double to left-center. Gonzalez had just two hits in 41 at-bats over his past 12 games before coming through against Wilson.

''I saw he was struggling with the heater in the first game and the better part of that game,'' Wilson said. ''I threw him mine, that's my best pitch. He got a good piece of it.''

The Giants' bullpen had thrown 24 1-3 consecutive scoreless innings since late in the regular season before the eighth-inning meltdown. The relievers were second in baseball with a 2.99 ERA in the regular season.

''We'll take Wilson out there every day,'' Huff said. ''He's been our guy all year long. No way, shape or form do I think he shouldn't be out there. He's our guy.''

It only got worse for the relievers in extra innings. Ramirez came on to start the 10th and got through that frame unscathed. After striking out Gonzalez to open the 11th, Ramirez game up the home run to Ankiel that splashed into McCovey Cove and stunned the once electric crowd.

The orange pompons that had been waving since before the first pitch were resting and the loud cheers that had been heard throughout the first two games had been silenced.

''This team has been resilient all year,'' Huff said. ''We lost a lot of tough games like this all year long and came back and got them the next day.''

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