St. Louis Cardinals thrash San Francisco Giants with 8-3 win in NLCS Game 4 – NLCS Update
Adam Wainwright pitched seven solid innings and batters razed the San Francisco Giants' defence to help St. Louis Cardinals take a majestic 8-3 win in the National League Championship Series Game 4.
At Busch Stadium, the Cardinals outrivaled the Giants in all departments of the game and cruised their way to another big victory, securing 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven games. They are only a win away to storm their way into the World Series finals.
After a night when he smashed a two-run homer, Matt Holliday laid a solid foundation for the Cardinals with a single to centre and Allen Craig followed with a sacrifice fly to take St. Louis' lead to 2-0 by the end of the first inning.
Hunter Pence tried to bring the Giants back in the game with his solo homer in the second, but Adam Wainwright held San Francisco at bay, keeping the 2-1 lead intact for the Cardinals.
Matt Holliday singled to centre again to increase the lead to 3-1 in the fifth as Yadier Molina also got an RBI run to Cardinals’ score, adding to the Giants’ woes with 4-1 lead. Tim Lincecum struggled, allowing four runs in his 4.2 innings.
Giants replaced Lincecum with George Kontos, but he was taken to task by Jon Jay who had a two-run RBI to put the Cardinals in comfortably 6-1 leading position by the end of the sixth inning.
Yadier Molina’s RBI single to left took the lead to 7-1 in the seventh inning and Peter Kozma made it 8-1 as the innings concluded, establishing the team’s dominance and helping pave the way for success.
With Wainwright pitching seven innings, allowing only a run, Fernando Salas was brought to pitch the eighth which he did successfully, not allowing any run.
The Cardinals decided to let Salas pitch the ninth inning as well, experimenting the same earlier done on Jason Motte, who had earned a two-inning save the night before. Salas allowed a two-run homer to Pablo Sandoval, but went on to conclude Game 4 with an 8-3 win for the Cardinals, to give them a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven games series.
Tags: