NL Championship Series Game Six: Giants 6, Cardinals 1

The San Francisco Giants beat the St Louis Cardinal 6-1 in game six of the NLCS, knotting the series at three games apiece.

After a dominant performance in game two of the series, Ryan Vogelsong turned in another gem in game six of the series. He allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out nine. The Cardinals managed just one extra base hit during the contest, a double by Carlos Beltran in the sixth inning. Beltran would score on a single by Allen Craig to account for the only St Louis run of the evening.

The Giants offense didn't exactly set the world on fire, but once again, it came down to taking advantage of mistakes. In the second inning, with the Giants already up 1-0, Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter intentionally walked Brandon Crawford to put runners on the corners with one out for Vogelsong. He hit a chopper to Pete Kozma that the rookie couldn't glove, allowing Gregor Blanco to score to increase the Giants lead to 2-0. After an Angel Pagan strikeout, Marco Scutaro doubled to left past an out of position Craig, scoring Crawford and Vogelsong and making the lead 4-0. An RBI single by Pablo Sandoval followed, making the game 5-0, more than enough of a lead for an electric Vogelsong.

Craig playing left field was brought about by Matt Holliday being a late scratch from the lineup with tightness in his lower back. As a result, Craig shifted from first base to left, and Matt Carpenter took Craig's place at first base. The switches benefited the Giants, and not just because of the Craig misplay on the Scutaro double. A Gregor Blanco hard-hit groundball ate up Carpenter in the third, resulting in a double for him that forced Chris Carpenter into throwing more pitches in that inning before exiting after the fourth.

The deciding game seven of the series will be on Monday evening, with a first pitch scheduled for 8:00 PM in San Francisco. Matt Cain will start for the Giants, and Kyle Lohse will start for the Cardinals.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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