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Giants top Cardinals in 11 innings

Jun 2, 2011 - 6:29 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Nate Schierholtz's RBI single in the top of the 11th proved to be the decider as the San Francisco Giants outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5, in the third game of a four-game set at Busch Stadium.

Schierholtz's single to right plated Freddy Sanchez, who reached on a ground rule double. The Giants added one more run in the frame, as Brandon Crawford drove home Schierholtz with a single to left.

Schierholtz also hit an RBI single that tied the game at 5-5 in the ninth inning. He finished 3-for-6 with two runs scored.

Eli Whiteside, thrust into the starting lineup for injured catcher Buster Posey, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Cardinals twice brought the tying run to the plate in the 11th. But with two outs, a man on first and a 2-1 count to Allen Craig, a bank of lights above the home plate section of the stadium failed, leading to a 16-minute delay.

Closer Brian Wilson endured the stoppage, inducing Craig into a groundout to secure his 15th save of the season.

"That's pretty good gamesmanship, isn't it?" said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "I just hoped it wouldn't be too long."

"I've had some pretty interesting innings before, but that's gonna top the charts," said Wilson. "I had my own mini-revelation of (the movie) 'The Natural.'"

In all, the Giants bullpen combined to pitch 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after Tim Lincecum allowed five runs on 10 hits while striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings.

Sergio Romo (3-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th.

Ryan Franklin (1-4) suffered the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in two innings of relief.

Craig provided the Cardinals with a pinch-hit two-run homer in the seventh, while Daniel Descalso went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

"I think we did everything we could. It wasn't enough," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "But we had a lot of high points."

Trailing 5-4 and down to its last out in the ninth inning, San Francisco stayed alive as Aubrey Huff worked a walk. Pinch runner Emmanuel Burriss then stole second and crossed the plate on Schierholtz's single up the middle. The rally came against Fernando Salas, who was previously 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season.

The Cardinals' 5-4 lead came courtesy of Craig's one-out, pinch-hit homer in the seventh. Ryan Theriot and Jon Jay followed with singles to chase Lincecum from the game. Santiago Casilla spelled the starter and walked Albert Pujols to load the bases before getting Lance Berkman to ground into an inning-ending double play.

St. Louis struck first in the back-and-forth contest, taking a 1-0 lead in the third behind a Theriot RBI single.

In the fourth, with runners on the corners, Skip Schumaker barely squeezed a ball up the middle, scoring Colby Rasmus. Lincecum then struck out Descalso, but a wild pitch allowed Yadier Molina to score from third, extending to Cardinals' lead to 3-0.

Schierholtz scored courtesy of a Cody Ross double in the sixth to put San Francisco on the board. Following a Brandon Crawford single, Ross scored from third on starter Jake Westbrook's wild pitch. Andres Torres' 10th double of the season plated Crawford, knotting the game at 3-3.

The Giants took their first lead of the game, 4-3, with on Huff's solo shot to right-center in the seventh, but Craig's blast in the following half-inning again threw the game into flux.

Game Notes

Westbrook went 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, nine hits and two walks...Lincecum entered Wednesday's contest with a 2.30 ERA in Busch Stadium...Craig's pinch-hit home run was the first ever allowed by Lincecum...Theriot extended his hit streak to 15 games...Lincecum is just five strikeouts shy of 1,000 for his career.