MLB playoffs: Giants blank Pirates in NL wild card game

PITTSBURGH - Madison Bumgarner pitched a four-hitter and struck out 10 while Brandon Crawford delivered a grand slam as visiting San Francisco won the National League wild-card playoff over Pittsburgh 8-0 on Wednesday.
Brandon Belt added three RBIs while Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence each scored twice for the Giants, who head to Washington to face the top-seeded Nationals in Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Friday. Bumgarner (1-0) walked only one as he notched San Francisco’s first shutout in the postseason since Tim Lincecum during the 2010 World Series run.
Edinson Volquez (0-1), who got the nod after the Pirates elected to start Gerrit Cole in an effort to win the NL Central on Sunday, was charged with five runs and as many hits and three walks in five-plus innings. Crawford’s fourth-inning blast proved to be the decisive blow as the Pittsburgh offense managed four singles.
Volquez stranded a pair in the second and one in the third but allowed back-to-back singles to Sandoval and Pence leading off the fourth before walking Belt on six pitches. Crawford followed and drove a 1-2 curveball over the high wall in right field to give the Giants a 4-0 cushion.
Pence drew a walk leading off the sixth to end Volquez’s night and left-hander Justin Wilson unleashed a wild pitch before Belt’s single snuck through the right side to plate Pence.