The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants to win Game 3 by the score of 3-1 and taking a 2-1 lead in the NLCS.
The hero of the day comes in unlikely fashion and has an unfamiliar name to many. Matt Carpenter hit the go ahead two-run homer giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Carpenter can thank Carlos Beltran for going down early in the game. He was running to first base trying to avoid a first inning double play and he was then removed from the game.
Beltran was out at first and out of the game. Carpenter stepped on to the field in the 2nd inning and stepped into Beltran's 2nd spot in the lineup and when he got his chance in the third inning. He wacked a home run over the right field bullpen driving in Jon Jay with two outs.
That was all the Cardinals needed.
Kyle Lohse went 5.2 innings giving up seven hits, one earned run, five walks and recorded two strikeouts.
Their rookie Pete Kozma stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning, and right before the water poured, he drove in a run on a grounder to Marco Scutaro.
The game was then interrupted for three hours and twenty-eight minutes.
When the action picked up the score was 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh with Jon Jay at bat and runners on second and third. The threat was cancelled out by the Giants' lefty Javier Lopez and Jason Mott came in for the two inning save.
The Giants struggled to drive in runners as they stranded 11 men on base and were 0-7 with runners in scoring position. Pablo Sandoval drove in the only run on a groundball to short.
The Giants will more than likely send Tim Lincecum to the mound and he will face Adam Wainwright in Game 4.
It will be do or die for the Giants tomorrow, though they came back to win three consecutive games against the Cincinnati Reds, the Cardinals have too much pitching and will not lose three games in a row.
Game time is 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT Thursday in St. Louis.
