Cardinals ride Garcia, Freese past Giants 4-1

SAN FRANCISCO -- David Freese delivered a crushing hit right after the Giants tied the game, and Jaime Garcia had a lead again when he headed back out to the mound in the bottom of the seventh.

Garcia matched his career high with nine strikeouts, Freese hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals gave manager Mike Matheny a victory against his old Giants team with a 4-1 win Wednesday night.

Freese won't go as far as to say he's back on track at the plate following an 0-for-17 funk, but this is a start.

"That's one way to turn it around a little bit," he said. "Just a big hit for Jaime. He pitched his tail off. Facing this type of team in this type of environment, it's nice to help him get a win like that."

Buster Posey hit a tying RBI single in the sixth against Garcia (3-2) for San Francisco, which missed multiple scoring chances yet again in what has been the biggest downfall for this bunch.

Pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker added a two-run double in the eighth for the Cardinals, who improved to 13-7 on the road.

The Giants didn't do enough to back Madison Bumgarner (5-3) in a matchup of the last two World Series champions. He lost his second straight start following a five-start winning streak on a breezy Bay Area night that featured a hovering mist above the field.

Garcia, who pitched a three-hitter in a 9-0 win over the Giants on Aug. 22, 2010, in St. Louis, had another memorable performance on the mound.. His nasty off-speed stuff kept the Giants guessing.

"He had it right from the beginning," Matheny said. "He gets going like that, and it's going to be fun to watch him."

While he allowed nine hits over 7 1/3 innings, Garcia didn't issue a walk for the first time this year and threw an efficient 92 pitches. The lefty also struck out nine San Francisco batters April 9, 2011.

"It was a really tough lineup and place to play, and I was able to stay in control of the game," he said.

Jason Motte pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine opportunities.

Slugger Carlos Beltran missed his third straight game for St. Louis with a sore and stiff right knee, but he could be available in today's series finale against his former club. Beltran spent the second half of 2011 with the Giants after a trade from the New York Mets.

St. Louis took the lead in the first when Rafael Furcal scored on Allen Craig's fielder's choice. Furcal and Freese both had three hits. Freese connected for his eighth home run with a shot into the tunnel area in left field with two outs in the seventh, then doubled in the ninth.

Freese also singled in the fourth to snap his hitless streak to help the Cardinals win consecutive games after they avoided an 0-5 homestand by beating the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Tuesday.

"I'm not looking at it like I'm finally getting breaks because I've been terrible the last week," Freese said. "It's not like I've been lining balls, this and that. I had a rough week."