Giants defeat Cardinals, force Game 7 in NLCS

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ryan Vogelsong and the San Francisco Giants saved their season once more, pushing St. Louis to a winner-take-all Game 7 in the NL championship series.

Turns out the defending champion Cardinals aren't the only team that's tough to put away in October.

Vogelsong struck out a career-best nine batters in another postseason gem, and the Giants avoided elimination for a second straight game by beating St. Louis 6-1 on Sunday night.

Marco Scutaro delivered a two-run double and Buster Posey drove in his first run of the series with a groundout in the first inning as San Francisco struck early to support Vogelsong.

San Francisco's Matt Cain and St. Louis' Kyle Lohse are set to pitch in a rematch of Game 3, won by the Cardinals. There's a forecast of rain in the Bay Area during the day.

The Cardinals’ Daniel Descalso flips his bat in front of Giants catcher Buster Posey after striking out during the second inning of Game 6 of the National League championship series Sunday in San Francisco. The Giants won 6-1 to force a Game 7. (David J. Phillip ~ Associated Press)

"It's kind of a joke in the clubhouse. About 60 percent of my games have rain in the forecast," Lohse said. "I know these guys. I've seen them for six games. I know what I need to do. ... It's time to get it done."

These wild-card Cardinals sure seem to like the all-or-nothing route in October, while San Francisco thrives playing from behind.

Five games with their year on the line, five wins for these gutsy Giants this postseason. Now, it comes down to one game for the past two World Series champions to get back, with the Detroit Tigers waiting.

Pitching to chants of "Vogey! Vogey!" from the sellout crowd of 43,070 at AT&T Park, the right-hander didn't allow a hit until Daniel Descalso's broken-bat single to center with two outs in the fifth. Vogelsong struck out the side in the first and already had fanned five through two innings.

"This place is going to be loud, I can tell you that," Vogelsong said about tonight's Game 7.

Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong throws during the first inning of Game 6. Vogelsang struck out a career-high nine batters over seven innings. (Ben Margot ~ Associated Press)

Scutaro had no chance for a collision with Matt Holliday this time. In their first game back at AT&T Park since Holliday took out the second baseman with a hard slide in Game 2, Holliday was scratched about an hour before first pitch because of tightness in his lower back, and Allen Craig replaced him in left field.

It hardly mattered the way Vogelsong pitched.

The Cardinals managed their only run on Craig's two-out single in the sixth. St. Louis had gone 15 innings without scoring after left-hander Barry Zito won 5-0 on Friday in Game 5.

"I just tried to do really the same thing he did, come out and set the tone early for us," Vogelsong said.

Vogelsong had his second stellar seven-inning outing against the Cardinals in a week, allowing four hits and one run. He walked one in a 102-pitch performance and lowered his postseason ERA -- all this year -- to 1.42.

Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter reacts in the dugout during the fourth inning of Game 6. Carpenter allowed five runs over four innings. (DAVID J. PHILLIP ~ Associated Press)

"I just believe that it's my time," Vogelsong said.

After taking a 3-1 lead back home at Busch Stadium, Mike Matheny's Cardinals will have to find some offense in a hurry if they want to get back to the World Series.

"We've got to make some adjustments, but our team's done that all season," Matheny said. "One thing I know is these guys take these to heart."

These Cards might just prefer close calls. Just like last year.

They won the NL's second wild card on the second-to-last day of the regular season, then won at Atlanta to reach the division series. The Cardinals rallied from a 6-0 deficit with a four-run ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 9-7 in Game 5 of the division series.

The Giants got to St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter again. The Cardinals winningest postseason pitcher with 10 victories looked out of sync for the second straight start -- and he left with a nearly identical line as in his 7-1 Game 2 loss here last Monday, down to the hits, earned runs, unearned runs and innings.

Carpenter was done in by one big inning this time, too. He allowed six hits and five runs, two earned, in four innings.

Vogelsong reached on shortstop Pete Kozma's fielding error in the second, scoring Brandon Belt after he led off the inning with a triple. Scutaro came up two batters later and doubled home two more runs.

The 10 unearned runs allowed by the Cardinals are the most in an NLCS, according to STATS, LLC -- topping the nine given up by the Braves in 2001 and Dodgers in 1985.

San Francisco never faced an elimination game in 2010 on the way to winning the World Series but has had to go the distance in each of its first two postseason series this year. They became the first team in major league history to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five series by winning three straight on the road as they did at Cincinnati.

They have Vogelsong for this year's run.

"He was on top of his game again," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's probably been as consistent as any starter this year."

The Giants put pressure on Carpenter right away.

Scutaro drew a one-out walk and Pablo Sandoval doubled off the wall in center on a ball that eluded Jon Jay. Posey followed with a groundout to third to score Scutaro for a 1-0 lead.

Scutaro is batting .458 (11 for 24) during the NLCS.

"I don't really know, man," Scutaro said when asked to explain it. "Just excited to come to the field every day. ... Being in this opportunity, just being in the playoffs, is amazing."

While the Giants have won five straight games facing elimination this postseason, the Cardinals have won their last six dating to last year.

NOTES: Matheny said he wasn't sure whether Holliday would be available Monday. "Wait and see, we'll see tomorrow," he said. ... Giants 1B coach Roberto Kelly worked his first home game of the series after sustaining a concussion during the initial workout day Oct. 13 before the NLCS began. He gave a thumbs-up before running out to the field during pregame warmups. ... San Francisco is 5-1 when scoring first this postseason. ... The most unearned runs allowed in any LCS is 13, by the Angels in 1986 against the Red Sox.