Giants Thump Cardinals 7-1 to Tie NLCS 1-1

The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Monday tying the 7-game NL championship series 1-1.

The Giants' four-run fourth inning was helped by Marco Scutaro's two-run single before the infielder left with a hip injury.

The Associated Press quoted Hunter Pence, the Giants outfielder as saying: "It just kind of pumps you up. When you see one of your guys go down, you always want to win the game, but it's like, 'Let's go. Let's put it on the scoreboard.'"

There's no confirmation on Scutaro's availability for the remaining games this season. He had a nasty collision with the Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday.

Holliday said: "In hindsight, I wish I would have started my slide a step earlier. It was happening fast and you're trying to get to him so he can't turn the double play.

"Obviously, I hope he's okay. I know him. He's a good guy. Obviously, I wasn't trying to do anything that keep us out of a double play.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. He's a great player. He's had an unbelievable second half and come up with some huge hits for them. I'm not surprised at all."

The Giants put up a splendid performance. There was a lead-off homer from Angel Pagan while seven strong innings were pitched by Ryan Vogelsong.

Bochy, the Giants manager said about Scutaro and Holliday's clash: "That shows you how tough he is. I really think they got away with an illegal slide there. That rule was changed a while back. And he really didn't hit dirt until he was past the bag.

"Marco was behind the bag and got smoked. It's a shame somebody got hurt because of this. That's more of a roadblock."

After the slide Holliday misplayed the ball in left field, which allowed the Giants to score a third run. It made Scutaro's hit look even sweeter.

Will Clark, the former Giants first baseman said: "There's baseball gods. There's definitely baseball gods. There's a reason why he hits a (single) and Holliday boots the ball he hit. Baseball gods shine in weird ways."

In the eighth inning, the Giants also benefited from a missed call by umpire Bill Miller. Mike Matheny, the Cardinals manager was not happy about it and the umpires soon huddled to discuss it. However, the call remained unchanged despite replays showing Allen Craig tagging Gregor Blanco's jersey.

"I'm not going to take a hard stance one way or another on the replay. That really wasn't the game today," Matheny said. "But every once in a while there's a big play that does change the course of the game and I'm not against having something else to help get it right. Our guys work hard to make the right plays and execute, so we want things called fairly."

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