Florida bounces back from a shutout loss and evens the series by rallying past the sloppy Giants 9-5.
By Associated Press
Published October 2, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO - Juan Pierre is sure everyone ruled out his wild-card Marlins in their playoff matchup with the Giants.
Somehow, the Marlins have the momentum heading home.
Juan Encarnacion homered and Pierre wound up with a bases-loaded double on a misplay by Jose Cruz in a decisive three-run sixth as Florida rallied to beat sloppy San Francisco 9-5 Wednesday, tying the series at one.
"Getting down 4-1, I think they were confident they would get us again," said Pierre, who had four hits and three RBIs. "We put the pressure on them and kept the pressure on."
Pierre said before this series that the Giants hadn't seen the Marlins at their best. San Francisco won five of six meetings during the regular season.
Pierre led a 15-hit effort, a day after Florida was held to three. The Marlins overcame a three-run deficit in the fifth.
"A lot of people doubted this team and thought we couldn't win," said Lenny Harris, who delivered a key pinch-hit single in the sixth. "We showed them a little something: that we're not afraid of them."
The Marlins got the split they needed at Pacific Bell Park, and they did it by getting away from the small ball that sent them on this improbable playoff journey. After an energized Barry Bonds helped the Giants take an early lead, Sidney Ponson couldn't hold it.
Carl Pavano, the winning pitcher when Florida clinched the wild card, earned another important victory by getting two outs.
"It was just a weird day," Giants first baseman J.T. Snow said. "They are a good team. There's a reason they are here. When you get to this point in the year, there's no quit in anybody."
Most of all, Florida kept Bonds from doing major damage. Rookie Dontrelle Willis, the Marlins' probable Game 4 starter, did his part by relieving in the eighth and retiring Bonds on a foulout.
On a day Bonds, 39, showed unusual energy in leftfield and on the bases, the Marlins again made sure the slugger wouldn't beat them at the plate. After Bonds doubled to drive in a run in the first, he was walked twice.
Bonds made a sliding catch and hustled home from first on Edgardo Alfonzo's double, nearly catching teammate Rich Aurilia, who had gone back to second to tag up in case the ball was caught.
But Bonds was about the only one who looked like himself.
On Pierre's fly ball in the sixth, Cruz slipped where the grass meets the warning track and the ball flew over him.
Cruz said it was the worst day he'd experienced in this tricky rightfield.
"I stepped on a mud patch and slipped there," he said. "It was a difficult wind, the shadows, the fog. I don't think we've played in those conditions before."
Snow also let a ball roll through his legs, setting up a run for the Marlins, and centerfielder Marquis Grissom let a line drive bounce off his glove.
