The St. Louis Cardinals continue to roll in the playoffs as they struck first in Game 1 of the NLCS. They defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-4, immediately taking home field advantage away from the Giants.
All the Cardinals needed was one big inning and two homers to put the game out of reach.
David Freese hit a two-run homer in the second inning, giving the Cardinals a two-run lead. Two innings later, they added four runs on a Pete Kozma double that plated a run. Then John Jay drove in Kozma with a single.
With the game 4-0, former Giant Carlos Beltran blasted his 14th career playoff homer and the Cardinals took a 6-0 lead.
However, if we learned anything from the ALDS it is that no lead is safe and the Giants did not give the Cardinals any reason to believe that this game was over.
In the bottom half of the fourth inning the Giants rallied back putting up a four-spot on the scoreboard making it a 6-4 game.
The big blow in that inning was a two-run triple by Gregor Blanco that drove in Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence.
Once the bullpens came in the game, both offenses quieted down completely.
The Giants hurlers threw 5.1 scoreless innings of hitless baseball and only Tim Lincecum allowed a walk.
The bad news for the Giants was that the Cardinals' bullpen matched them perfectly giving up only two hits and a walk over their 5.1 scoreless innings.
Game 2 is Monday night. Chris Carpenter will be on the mound for the Cardinals and Ryan Vogelsong will take the mound for the Giants.
