By: Joe Lami

AP photo: San Francisco Giant pitcher Ty Blach in his second start of his career pitched eight scoreless innings while striking out six in picking up a victory for San Fanicsco 3-0 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–After the St. Louis Cardinals won earlier Saturday afternoon, the San Francisco Giants needed to take care of business to keep their lead in the NL Wild Card race. So in true October Giants fashion, Bruce Bochy sent rookie Ty Blach to the mound for his second career start.

Blach was phenomenal, outdueling Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, for his first career win. Giants fans will remember his outing, especially if San Francisco can clinch the second wild card spot on Sunday and use some even year magic to make another crazy playoff run.

The first time Blach stepped on the rubber at AT&T Park, he finished the day with eight scoreless innings, while striking out six. What may be most impressive about his outing, besides pitching in such an important game, was having 1,2,3 innings in the first, third, fifth, and sixth.

Though Kershaw gave up six hits on the day, he was perfect through the first 3.2 IP before Buster Posey broke it with a single to left. This helped the Giants bats get going, as Angel Pagan smacked his 12th home run to left field to start the fifth inning. The ball just went far enough to bounce on top of the wall and be called a home run.

San Francisco was able to add two more runs in the seventh inning thanks to an error by third baseman Justin Turner who zipped an easy out down the right field line, allowing Pagan to score and Brandon Crawford to get to third on the play.

There was an opportunity for Giants’ manager Brue Bochy to take Blach out in the sixth and seventh innings, but instead, he kept his rookie pitcher in and it paid off, as Blach got his first and second career hits off of Kershaw. On Saturday, he became the second pitcher to get two hits off of the Dodgers ace, as Craig Stammen did so in 2010.

Bochy, knowing that Blach does have a decent bat, helped with the decision to keep the rookie going. Bochy added that he didn’t want to get in the way of one of the best pitching performances he’s ever seen.

Blach mentioned that it was one of the most important starts of his career, “anytime you get the chance to get out there in a playoff race and give your team a chance, it’s a lot of fun. I appreciated the opportunity and tried to make the most of it”.

That, he did, as San Francisco is now on the cusp of clinching the second NL Wild Card spot, as they will do so with a win against the Dodgers, or if the Cardinals fail to beat Pittsburg on Sunday.