Giants vs. Cardinals: Game 2 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 MLB Playoffs

The St. Louis Cardinals halted the San Francisco Giants' amazing run on the road in the postseason, winning Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS 5-4 on Sunday at Busch Stadium.

After helping close out the mighty Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers to advance to this late stage of the playoffs, Matt Adams went yard in the bottom of the eighth off Hunter Strickland to put the Cardinals on top entering the final frame.

But a shaky ninth inning by Trevor Rosenthal saw the St. Louis reliever allow two baserunners and then the tying run on a wild pitch. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times observed the scene, as friendly fans turned on the would-be closer:

However, Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong bailed out Rosenthal in the bottom of the ninth. Wong led off and promptly proceeded to seal the deal in walk-off fashion on the second pitch from Sergio Romo.

Steve Berthiaume of MLB.com weighed in on the sensational finish, as the Cardiac Cards knotted the series at one game apiece:

"

That.... was a fantastic baseball game and when it's this good, there's nothing better. @KoltenWong @MLB

— Steve Berthiaume (@BertDbacks) October 13, 2014"

The long ball kept the home team in Sunday's showdown. After St. Louis hit a National League-low 105 home runs during the 2014 regular campaign, four big swings kept the Cardinals competitive—and ultimately won them the game.

Matt Carpenter kicked off the scoring with a dinger to right with no one aboard in the third, but he did pop out with the bases loaded and two outs in the subsequent inning. Giants manager Bruce Bochy made the bold decision to keep starting pitcher Jake Peavy on the mound for that critical sequence.

Peavy, a reputedly fiery veteran, lived up to the words he spoke before the game in escaping that fourth-inning jam with just one run allowed, per MLB:

But San Francisco was still trailing 2-0 and in need of a spark. It wasn't pretty when Joaquin Arias subbed in for Peavy in the top of the fifth, yet his RBI groundout plated Brandon Belt to cut the deficit in half.

With two strikes and two outs in the next frame, Hunter Pence did well to seize the opportunity presented by Pablo Sandoval's double. Pence smacked a clutch base hit to right-center field for the equalizing run.

ESPN's Jayson Stark implied Pence was due for something big:

That chased St. Louis starter Lance Lynn after 5.2 innings in which he threw 98 pitches, yielding six hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts. The top of the seventh saw the Giants tack on another run to take the lead, courtesy of Gregor Blanco's RBI single to score Brandon Crawford, making it 3-2.

Then the hosts had an answer to San Francisco's surge, as well as a response to the run producing Arias did in lieu of Peavy at the plate.

Cardinals rookie Oscar Taveras, who had just three home runs in 80 regular-season games, hit a pinch-hit solo homer to tie the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea.com weighed in on Taveras' epic shot:

Seven has indeed been the lucky number for St. Louis in these MLB playoffs, per ESPN Stats and Info:

Not long after, it was Adams' turn to be the hero again, followed by Wong's walk-off blast over the right-field wall.

Part of what has made St. Louis so successful has been the defensive prowess of catcher Yadier Molina. Unfortunately, he suffered a strained oblique injury and could miss the World Series if the Cardinals advance, as ESPN's Buster Olney observed:

Mark Simon of ESPN outlined how valuable Molina has been behind the plate:

ESPN's Adnan Virk implied that the ninth-inning letdown for Rosenthal could have been prevented if Molina were catching:

So it might be a bit of a Pyrrhic victory for the Cards, but at least they hit the road to AT&T Park not having to face an all-but-insurmountable 0-2 hole in the series.

Stealing bases is neither of these teams' forte, as they were in the bottom three in baseball in doing that this year. Thus, perhaps Molina's absence won't loom as large, and the Cardinals can rally around his replacements in addition to using the momentum generated from Game 2.

Two capable, experienced hurlers in San Francisco's Tim Hudson and counterpart John Lackey are slated to be on the bump for Game 3. That should make for a hard-fought battle in which the Giants will have to recover from the disappointment of nearly heading home with a prohibitive series advantage.