LONG BALL: Matt Carpenter, who replaced Carlos Beltran after Beltran was forced to leave the game with a left knee strain, belts a two-run homer in the third inning of the Cardinals’ 3-1 victory over the Giants in Game 3 of the NLCS in St. Louis. (Reuters)
ST. LOUIS — Neither losing Carlos Beltran nor sitting through a three-hour and 28-minute rain delay with a two-run lead made the Cardinals complacent yesterday.
Matt Carpenter came to the rescue in Beltran’s place and the Cardinals’ pitching handled the rest — including six straight outs by closer Jason Motte after play resumed — in a 3-1 victory over the Giants in Game 3 of the NLCS at Busch Stadium.
Carpenter, inserted into right field in the second inning after Beltran departed with a left knee strain, delivered a two-run homer in the third against Matt Cain for the game’s decisive blow.
Carpenter said there was a sense of deflation when Beltran departed.
”I wanted to do something that would bring some life back,” Carpenter said.
Beltran, the former Met who is batting .400 in this postseason, will be evaluated today. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Beltran’s knee flared up as he ran to first base on a grounder the Giants turned into a double play in the first inning.
Carpenter was 4-for-4 lifetime against Cain, making Matheny’s decision easy on who should replace Beltran.
“People will talk about the sample size, but to me Carpenter is a guy we try to get at-bats for whenever we can,” Matheny said. “He’s earned that through the season.”
The Cardinals, ahead 2-1 in the series, will send Adam Wainwright to the mound for tonight’s Game 4. Giants manager Bruce Bochy will counter with Tim Lincecum, who pitched from the bullpen against the Reds in the NLDS.
The Giants had plenty of opportunities yesterday, but never got the big hit against Kyle Lohse or the Cardinals bullpen and left 11 runners on base. Nobody was a bigger rally killer than Hunter Pence, who hit into a double play in the third and struck out with two runners aboard in the seventh. Pence is 1-for-11 (.091) in the NLCS.
”He’s the guy we want up there with men on base,” Bochy said, noting that Pence had 104 RBIs during the regular season. “He’s got to put this behind him like us and be set for [tonight].”
Cain lasted 6 2/3 innings and surrendered three earned runs on six hits and one walk. David Freese’s double in the seventh and Pete Kozma’s single to load the bases allowed the Cardinals to add a run on Shane Robinson’s ground out. As Bochy was removing Cain from the game moments later, rain halted play.
Lohse gave the Cardinals a shot by allowing one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings with five walks and two strikeouts. After getting two quick outs in the sixth he allowed successive singles to Brandon Crawford and Cain prompting Matheny to summon Trevor Rosenthal. The righty Rosenthal got ex-Met Angel Pagan to hit into a fielder’s choice, keeping the Cardinals ahead 2-1.
Marco Scutaro returned to the lineup for the Giants, after sustaining a bruised left hip when Matt Holliday leveled him at second base on Monday, and delivered a double in the first inning to spark a rally. Pablo Sandoval’s RBI ground-out gave the Giants a 1-0 lead before Pence hit into an inning-ending double play.
Now the Cardinals’ burden is on Wainwright to rebound after a dreadful start in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Nationals on Friday in which he surrendered six runs in the first three innings. But the Cardinals kept battling until they had secured a 9-7 victory to reach the NLCS.
Wainwright said he “choked” against the Nationals. He said jokingly to reporters that he gave up the six runs to motivate his team.
”I purposely went out and pitched terribly to be unselfish,” Wainwright said. “And if you believe that, just so everyone knows, that was in jest.”