Giants Win 6-4 Take 3 Games to 1 Lead in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants took a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS with a 6-4 win last night at AT&T Park on the west coast. Yusmeiro Petit got the win, in relief of starter Ryan Vogelsong, with 3 innings of effective relief work. Santiago Casilla picked up the save. Marco Gonzalez took the loss for St. Louis.

St. Louis broke on top with a run in the top of the 1st. Matt Carpenter doubled and Jon Jay walked. With one out, Matt Adams singled to left to drive in Carpenter. The Cards had the 1-0 lead.

The Giants answered in the bottom of the 1st. Gregor Blanco doubled to right to lead off. Joe Panik followed with a single that got Blanco to third. Buster Posey, who had 3 RBIs on the night, got Blanco home with a sacrifice fly to center. The score was tied 1-1.

The Redbirds would score another run in their half of the 2nd. Kolten Wong doubled to lead off the inning. AJ Pierzynski singled to drive in Wong and the Cards were back on top 2-1.

The Cardinals scored two more times in the 3rd. Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams singled with Holliday stopping at third. Jhonny Peralta hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Holliday. Kolten Wong hit a 3-2 pitch from Ryan Vogelsong over the right field fence to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. Kolten Wong his 7 hits this postseason...all for extra bases.

Joaquin Arias, pinch hitting for Vogelsong in the third, singled. Gregor Blanco grounded out to first as Arias moved to second. Joe Panik flied out to center and Arias took third. Buster Posey singled to left and Arias scored. Pablo Sandoval walked and Hunter Pence singled to drive in Posey. The Giants had cut the lead to 4-3.

Marco Gonzalez took the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 6th. Juan Perez walked to lead off the inning for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to right and Perez stopped at second. Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Yusmeiro Petit, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Perez to third and Crawford to second. Gregor Blanco grounded to first and Matt Adams decided to throw home to get Perez but Adam's throw short hopped the catcher and Perez scored. The next batter, Joe Panik grounded to first. Adams stepped on the bag to get Panik but threw wildly to second trying to get Blanco. Crawford scored and the Giants had their first lead, 5-4. With Blanco on second, Buster Posey singled to left off of Cardinal reliever, Seth Maness, and Blanco scored giving the Giants the 6-4 lead.

With the 6-4 win and a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, the Giants face the Cardinals tonight in game 5 at AT&T Park. If the Giants win game 5 they will face the Kansas City Royals in game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday the 21st of October. If the Cardinals win game 5, the NLCS heads back to St. Louis for game 6 and, if necessary, game 7.

dr. howl of SBNation has a great article on this game, and the series from a Cardinal point of view here.

Cards Beat Giants 5-4 on Kolten Wong Walkoff Home Run

The St. Louis Cardinals have tied the NLDS at one game apiece thanks to some good pitching, poor hitting by the Giants and a power surge of home runs.

The Redbirds hit 4 home runs last night. They were all solo shots. Matt Carpenter connected in the 3rd, Rookie Oscar Taveras, pinch hitting for pitcher Carlos Martinez, in the 7th, Matt Adams in the 8th and Wong's walkoff in the 9th. Randal Grichuk drove in the second run for the Cards on a single in the 4th.

The Giants had tied the score at 4 in the top of the 9th on a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal with the Bases loaded.

Sergio Romo took the loss for the Giants while Seth Maness picked up the win.

These two teams now head to San Francisco for games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLDS. If necessary games 6 and 7 would be played in St. Louis.

Read the ESPN story here.

Cards Advance to the NLCS with a 3-2 Win Over the Dodgers

The LA Dodgers did all they could to even the NLDS series in St. Louis on Tuesday afternoon. They started arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Clayton Kershaw. They staked Kershaw to a 2 run lead in the 6th while Kershaw was holding the Cards on a 1 hit shutout.

In 2014, while posting a 21-3 record with a 1.77 ERA, Kershaw gave up only 1 home run to a left handed hitter. In this series he gave up 2 home runs in 2 games to lefties. Matt Carpenter connected in the first game and Matt Adams jacked a 3 run blast to right field in game 3.

Kershaw is now 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in his 11 postseason appearances.

"The season ended and I was a big part of the reason why," Kershaw said. "I can't really put it into words, Just bad deja vu all over again."

Enough about the Dodgers. The Cardinals won this NLDS series 3-1. This wasn't a fluke. The Cards will be in the NLCS for the 4th consecutive year. Their 9th NLCS in 15 years. They beat Kershaw twice while holding the Dodgers to 15 runs in 4 games. 

The Cardinals hit 7 home runs in this series, the most postseason home runs by a team that hit the fewest HRs in their league that year.

Box scores usually do not tell the complete story of the game but this one tells of the clutch hitting in the bottom of the 7th. The Cards had 4 hits all night. Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta singled to lead off the 7th for two of those.

Matt Adams hit an 0-1 curve ball into the Cardinals bullpen for the 3 run homer, Kershaw's first 3 run home run allowed since June of 2012, a span of 86 starts.

"I don't think I touched the ground the whole way around the bases," Adams said. "Definitely the highlight of my career. ... I will never, ever forget this."

Timely hitting by the Cards is evident when one sees that the Redbirds outscored the Dodgers 15-4 in the 7th through the 9th innings.

The Cardinals will face the Giants in St. Louis beginning on Saturday the 11th of October after the Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 3 games to 2 in the other NLDS Series.