Giants 4 - 5 Cardinals
Final
  for this game

Wong's HR in 9th gives Cardinals dramatic Game 2 win

Oct 13, 2014 - 5:31 AM St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Kolten Wong capped a dramatic four-homer night for the Cardinals by belting the winning solo blast off Sergio Romo in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Giants, 5-4, and tie the National League Championship Series after two games.

Matt Adams turned on a 97 mph fastball from Hunter Strickland in the bottom of the eighth to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

Trevor Rosenthal gave up singles to pinch-hitter Andrew Susac and Juan Perez with one out in the top of the ninth. Gregor Blanco then lined out to a leaping Jhonny Peralta at shortstop. Joe Panik ran the count to 3-2 before a pitch went into the dirt. Tony Cruz, who replaced an injured Yadier Molina behind the plate, had a difficult time locating the ball, which bounced to the backstop. Pinch-runner Matt Duffy alertly raced home from second with the tying run.

Wong led off the bottom portion by smacking an 0-1 pitch to right field off Romo (0-1).

"To hit a home run at this stage, especially a walk-off home run, it was definitely my top home run I've hit ever," Wong said.

The Giants, who won the opener 3-0 Saturday, had their seven-game road postseason winning streak broken.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday afternoon in San Francisco.

Matt Carpenter and Oscar Taveras also went deep for the Cardinals Sunday night.

"It's a great time for us to bust out with some power," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Once again, falling into the trap of trying to force that could end up being an issue for us, but right now they're just taking nice short strokes and the ball is jumping."

After the Giants tied the game in the top of the ninth, they loaded the bases, but Seth Maness (1-0) retired Pablo Sandoval on a grounder back to the mound to cap the frame.

"We were just missing a hit to put the game away," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We had a chance, but the long ball got us tonight."

Molina suffered a strained left oblique in the sixth inning. He never got out of the batter's box after grounding into a double play.

After the game, Matheny said he didn't know the extent of Molina's injury, but that it "didn't look good."

Cardinals starter Lance Lynn allowed six hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings, while San Francisco's Jake Peavy pitched the first four frames.

Carpenter homered to right in the third inning and it became 2-0 in the fourth. With the bases full, Randal Grichuk singled to left to drive in Adams. Peavy limited the damage by retiring the next two batters.

Center fielder Jon Jay nearly made a diving catch on a ball hit by Travis Ishikawa in the top of the fifth. It turned into a double when the ball popped out of Jay's glove, and then pinch-hitter Joaquin Arias shattered his bat on a ground ball to second to plate Brandon Belt.

The Giants tied it the following inning when Hunter Pence's single to center scored Sandoval.

Blanco put the Giants up 3-2 in the seventh when his ground ball into right field sent Brandon Crawford to the plate.

Taveras, in a pinch-hit role, tied the game when he drove a 2-1 pitch from Jean Machi just inside the foul pole down the right-field line with one out in the home seventh.

Game Notes

The Giants suffered their first road playoff defeat since Game 4 of NLCS on Oct. 18, 2012 at Busch Stadium ... San Francisco left nine men on base ... The Giants are 4-for-22 at the plate in the first inning in this year's playoffs. All four hits have been singles ... John Lackey is scheduled to start Game 3 for the Cardinals and Tim Hudson for the Giants.






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