ATLANTA — The video scoreboard at Turner Field showed a highlight of Brooks Conrad hitting a home run.
The home crowd booed.
Conrad stood with his hands by his side. The worst day of his career was playing itself out on a national stage. The stone-gloved second baseman had made two errors Sunday.
The Braves were able to overcome the first two. They weren't able to overcome the third.
A ninth-inning grounder by Buster Posey passed through Conrad's legs, allowing Freddy Sanchez to score the go-ahead run for the Giants, who went on to claim a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
The Giants took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, pushing the Braves to within a defeat of elimination. Game 4 is Monday.
"It's completely embarrassing," Conrad said. "I feel terrible. I wish I could just dig a hole and go to sleep in there."
That the game was decided in the late innings was hardly a surprise, as the Braves lost All-Star closer Billy Wagner and the Giants were recovering from their own late-inning collapse in Game 2.
The Giants were ahead 1-0 in the eighth inning when manager Bruce Bochy pulled starter Jonathan Sanchez and sent in right-hander Sergio Romo to face Troy Glaus with a man on first. Two days earlier, Romo gave up back-to-back singles to start the eighth, forcing Brian Wilson to make an early entry that resulted in a Braves victory.
Braves manager Bobby Cox immediately inserted the left-handed-hitting Eric Hinske, who drove a ball just inside of the right-field foul pole for a 2-1 lead.
But with Wagner placed on the disabled list earlier in the day with a strained side muscle, the Braves were forced to turn to rookie Craig Kimbrel in the ninth. Kimbrel gave up a two-out single to Sanchez that put men on first and second, prompting Cox to call in left-hander Mike Dunn to face Aubrey Huff.
Huff singled to right to drive in Travis Ishikawa to tie the game. In came Peter Moylan to face Posey.