Five keys to the Giants 11-4 victory in Game 4 of World Series

Trailing by three runs in the third inning Saturday night, and facing a three-games-to-one deficit in the World Series unless a turnaround happened, the San Francisco Giants made one happen in Game 4.

They started to chip away, and by the end they were clawing at the Kansas City Royals, scoring 10 unanswered runs in an 11-4 victory at AT&T Park that evened the best-of-seven Series at two wins apiece.

The Giants pounded 16 hits, getting key contributions from all of their one-through-five hitters, along with three hits, a walk and two runs scored from the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Pablo Sandoval's two-run single in the sixth put the Giants ahead to stay.

At one point:

Here are the top five moments from Game 4:

THE LAST OUT

If the Giants had gotten down 3-1 in the Series, they would have been facing tough odds. Of the 45 times a team has gotten a 3-1 Series lead, only six times has the other team come back to win.

PABLO SANDOVAL COMES THROUGH RIGHT-HANDED
Victory might have seemed inevitable when you win by seven runs, but the Giants needed someone to come through with a big hit in the sixth inning after the go-ahead run had been cut down at the plate. After Hunter Pence grounded to short with the bases loaded, and Alcides Escobar fired home for the force, the Royals were one out away from getting to the seventh all tied.

Sandoval, a .199/.244/.319 hitter against left-handed pitchers in the regular season, got two hits against lefties in Game 4, including a two-run single against Brandon Finnegan that gave the Giants a lead they didn't relinquish.

ESCOBAR THROWS HOME FOR FORCE INSTEAD OF GOING FOR DOUBLE PLAY

Ned Yost wanted to avoid pitching to Buster Posey in the sixth, so he walked him with one out to load the bases for Hunter Pence. It was a curious choice, because:

It appeared to work out when Pence hit a sharp grounder to short, but with the infield playing tight and not at double-play depth, a 6-4-3 attempt would have been awkward for Alcides Escobar, who instead went home for the sure out. Yost wanted to have his cake and eat it too, because just pitching to Posey with the infield in would have made no less sense than walking him and playing the defense close anyway. It didn't work out, after all. But was it a mistake?

YUSMEIRO PETIT STOPS THE BLEEDING

Starter Ryan Vogelsong was ineffective and Jean Machi's appearance out of the bullpen was brief, so the emergence of Yusmeiro Petit, who allowed two hits over three scoreless innings, certainly helped the Giants put some space between themselves and the Royals. The entire Giants bullpen came through with 6⅓ scoreless frames, allowing five hits and a walk.

Along those lines, check out this 76 mph curveball by Jeremy Affeldt:

Petit also became the first relief pitcher since 1993 (Al Leiter) to get a hit in the Series:

NO PANIC JOE PANIK

Any other number of key moments could have made the top five, but rookie Joe Panik's leadoff double in the sixth pushed Jason Vargas from the game and put a less-effective part of Kansas City's bullpen — middle relief — into the picture. The Giants scored twice that inning to tie, and used the moment as a launching pad to blow the Royals out. Panik had two hits, a sacrifice bunt and two RBIs on the night.

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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rdbrown@yahoo-inc.com and follow him on Twitter!

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