For the Giants, ‘torture’ can feel pretty good

Back in April, the San Francisco Giants were in San Diego and couldn’t score any runs.

The display of offensive ineptitude prompted Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper to say, on the air, “Giants baseball – torture.”

The Giants were in Atlanta on Monday. They still can’t score any runs. And Giants baseball is still torture.

But Manager Bruce Bochy is fine with that.

In his view, the grueling regular season prepared the Giants for the kind of game they won against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

“You know, it’s experience that you’re able to draw on,” Bochy said. “It’s the way we play. A lot of tight games, if you play enough of them, guys get accustomed to it.”

The NL West champion Giants played 52 one-run games in the regular season and won 28 of them. Their two postseason wins have been by one run.

The Giants blew a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game, when reliever Sergio Romo served up a two-run home run to Eric Hinske. But they stormed back in the ninth, scoring two runs to win, 3-2.

“I mean, that can take the wind out of your sails,” Bochy said of Hinske’s home run. “And these guys came right back and found a way to get it done.”

Of the time between the eighth and ninth innings, Aubrey Huff said, “When we got in the dugout, it wasn’t down. Everybody was up and down.”

The Giants were kept alive in the ninth inning by a two-out single by Freddy Sanchez.

The Braves replaced rookie Craig Kimbrel with left-hander Mike Dunn, who was brought in to face the left-handed Huff.

Huff singled, driving in Travis Ishikawa to tie the game, 2-2.

Up came rookie Buster Posey.

With Peter Moylan on the mound, Posey hit a grounder to second base that skipped through the parted legs of second baseman Brooks Conrad. Sanchez scored. The Giants won.

“Certainly, by no means do we want to be tortured out there,” Huff said. “It just seems like every game, everything’s so stressful.”

But the ending can be euphoric.

“That ninth inning, emotions are running high, especially when Huff got the big hit we were looking for to tie the game,” Bochy said. “That’s what you want to do. Then, of course, scoring the winning run, especially in this situation. It’s a great feeling down there.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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