Somewhere in the past 12 hours, the San Francisco Giants found their power. Left fielder Travis Ishikawa hit a three-run walk off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the Giants into the World Series, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 today, October 16.

In a series won by small ball and pitching, it was power that gave San Francisco the victory.

Like yesterday, the game started off on a rocky note. Pitcher Madison Bumgarner struggled early, giving up three runs in the first four innings; one in the third and two in fourth. After that however, he settled down and pitched lights-out the rest of his night, ending with eight innings pitched, giving up three runs on five hits and retiring the final 13 batters he faced. In the end, he was named NLCS MVP.

The Giants got their offense started early. In the third, center fielder Gregor Blanco hit a single. The next batter up, second baseman Joe Panik, put one over the wall in right to make the score 2-1.

After that, the offense sputtered, and Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright took control, at one point retiring 10 straight Giants’ batters.

Wainwright’s night only lasted so long, and in the eighth inning he came out for all-star reliever Pat Neshek. Pinch-hitter Michael Morse took Neshek’s 1-1 offering and smacked it out of the park to tie the game 3-3.

“I just wanted to be ready… and try not to do too much,” Morse said. “And it just went my way.”

Giants’ closer Santiago Casilla came in to pitch the ninth, but lacked his usual control, loading the bases on two walks and a single. With two outs, manager Bruce Bochey put in reliever Jeremy Affeldt, who got pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras to ground out.

Third baseman Pablo Sandoval led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. Two batters later, first baseman Brandon Belt walked to bring up Ishikawa.

“[I] put a good swing on it,” Ishikawa said. “And it did the rest.”

The win was the Giants’ first walk-off win to get to the World Series since Bobby Thomsons’ “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951.

San Francisco moves on to its third World Series in five years. It will face the Kansas City Royals, who are making the most of their first playoff run in 29 years and haven’t lost a game yet this postseason.

Game 1 of the World Series will be Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Kansas City.