Giants vs. Nationals: Game 2 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 MLB Playoffs

Washington Nationals star Jordan Zimmermann initially bested San Francisco Giants veteran Tim Hudson in an epic pitchers' duel. Late dramatics, however, led to the longest game in MLB postseason history on Saturday in the nation's capital.

The Giants rallied in the ninth to tie the game, but Washington hung tough. Then San Francisco's Brandon Belt broke a scoreless gridlock with a towering solo home run off Tanner Roark in the top of the 18th to secure a 2-1 win.

Hunter Strickland closed things out in the bottom of the 18th for the save, getting Jayson Werth to fly out to right center for the final out.

That boosted the Giants to a 2-0 advantage in this National League Division Series heading back to the Bay Area. It also showed how gritty San Francisco has been in enemy territory, per MLB on Fox:

Buster Olney of ESPN admired Belt's monster shot to right field:

ESPN's Adnan Virk clocked the record-setting contest:

A leadoff double in the 12th saw Giants right fielder Hunter Pence get as far as third base with one out. However, Nationals reliever Jerry Blevins didn't allow Brandon Crawford or Andrew Susac to get the ball out of the infield, setting the stage for the eventual—emphasis on that word—climactic conclusion.

Blevins' form prompted this tweet from The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore:

Little of note occurred thereafter until a quick, 1-2-3 inning gave Washington some steam entering the bottom of the 15th. Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon lined a shot to the warning track in deep center that wasn't quite enough to end it.

Those remaining at the park got another wind of optimism when maligned closer Rafael Soriano retired the Giants in order on just 11 pitches in the 16th. Following 4.1 strong, scoreless innings in relief, San Francisco reliever Yusmeiro Petit let one hang to Adam LaRoche that went to the right-field warning track but was caught.

The Washington Post's James Wagner brought up a good point about the lack of carry balls were getting:

And the perpetual suspense continued, as an entirely new game within the game unfolded.

Amid the marathon test of fortitude, ESPN's Andrew Brandt made an appropriate political analogy:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer even weighed in on the situation:

Justin McGuire of Sporting News cracked a good one about the unique circumstances:

Well, even fans couldn't stand the cold weather that came with the extended action after a while. The unmistakeable association Mother Nature had with both teams' chilly bats created a sense of pathetic fallacy.

ESPN's Arash Markazi was a bit critical, while The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre was a little more empathetic:

Zimmermann built on the momentum generated by his no-hitter to end the regular season with another clutch gem in front of an enthusiastic Nationals Park crowd. He went 8.2 innings, yielding just three hits and an earned run he was charged with following his only walk to go with six strikeouts.

It wasn't easy once Zimmermann left the hill, just one out from securing the victory in standard fashion.

Before the game, Hudson, who had a stat line of 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB 8 K's on Saturday, supplied Washington with some implicit bulletin-board material (via The Post's Kilgore):

"

Obviously they have a talented group over there, there's no question. They have some great pitching. But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That's going to take you real far. And I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.

"

Perhaps Hudson had room to talk, given how San Francisco came back late—and based on his pre-Game 2 career record against Washington, per MLB:

Whatever the 28-year-old Zimmermann lacked in experience (second playoff start) compared to his counterpart in Hudson (10th start), 39, was made up for with gall and calm under inordinate pressure.

But Nationals manager Matt Williams pulled Zimmermann following a two-out, ninth-inning walk to Joe Panik. Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com was among those surprised:

It was up to Drew Storen to get the final out, but he yielded a single on his first pitch to Giants star catcher Buster Posey.

Then Pablo Sandoval slapped it down the line to the opposite field, scoring Panik, but a strong relay throw by Bryce Harper got Posey just in time for the play at the plate to end the top half of the inning.

ESPN Stats & Info brought up how steady Sandoval has been in the most important games:

Things got even hairier over balls and strikes in the bottom of the 10th, as Williams and Asdrubal Cabrera were both ejected.

Bob Dutton of The (Tacoma) News Tribune felt the player and skipper had a case in their heated arguments:

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports offered a different take:

Neither starting pitcher made many mistakes, which only decreased the margin for error. Hudson conceded just enough ground in the bottom of the third to make the early difference.

When a cut fastball veered too far back over the middle of the plate, Rendon didn't miss. The young stud pulled the ball between third and shortstop for an RBI single, plating Cabrera, who'd hit a double and advanced beforehand, with ease from 90 feet away.

ESPN's Jayson Stark tweeted a relevant stat that magnified the importance of starting pitching in the postseason:

SI MLB reminded fans just how effective Rendon has been all year long:

Chris Rose of MLB Network praised Rendon in similar fashion after what turned out to be the winning hit:

Rendon went 4-for-7 in a game where all other batters found hits awfully hard to come by. The fourth of Rendon's hits came in the bottom of the eighth with one out, ending Hudson's spectacular overall evening.

San Francisco has a shot to close this out at home in Game 3 on Monday, and the Giants have to feel good about the fact that they took both games off the Nationals on the road.

Madison Bumgarner won the Wild Card Game for San Francisco and is the probable choice to be on the hill, with a great chance to deliver the Giants another playoff win.

The Nationals will be hard-pressed to bounce back from this one. If they can't grind it out away from home in Game 3, their outstanding season in which they had an NL-best record is suddenly over. Better production from their bats will go a long way in determining their fate.

It's an even-numbered year, though, and the Giants have taken home the World Series twice in as many such recent seasons. It's up to Washington to buck that trend—and it must take the next two games at AT&T Park to have any hope of doing so.