The San Francisco Giants completed a four game sweep of the Detroit Tigers Sunday night to win their second baseball World Series title in three years.
The Giants beat the Tigers in Detroit 4-3 in 10 innings to finish the rare sweep, becoming the first National League team to sweep a World Series since the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.
"This will sink in, but right now, I'm kind of speechless on that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I'm numb, really, the fact that we've won two World Series in the last three years."
Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro hit the go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning that brought infielder Ryan Theriot home.
Minutes later, as Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera struck out, the Giants ran screaming onto the infield to celebrate their seventh world title.
“My mom sent me a text and said ‘don’t wake up,’” said Pablo Sandoval, who was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Series, largely because of the three home runs he hit in game one.
The path to the 2012 World Series was fraught with peril for the Giants, who came from behind and won six elimination games to make it to the championship.
The Giants overcame a 2-0 deficit against Cincinnati in the best-of-five National League division series, by winning the final three games on the road.
They also trailed the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in the league championship series before winning three games in a row to clinch the National League pennant.
It was a history-making night for San Francisco, the 21st sweep in Series history, and sparked massive celebrations in California’s Bay Area, with music blaring, fireworks, and fans dancing in streets usually clogged with traffic.
The team will be welcomed home with a ticker-tape parade on Wednesday.
"The rain in Detroit couldn't dampen the drive, talent and determination of the San Francisco Giants team tonight,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee.
“Once again, the Giants brought our city together as we all cheered on our hometown heroes to another remarkable World Series victory," he said.
