St. Louis Cardinals vs. SF Giants Game 4: Live Score and NLCS Highlights

FINAL SCORE: Cardinals 4 - 6 Giants; San Francisco leads NLCS, 3-1

The San Francisco Giants gritted out another victory Wednesday night at AT&T Park to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series. With equal parts spirited come-from-behind offense and shoddy decision-making by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Giants took one more step toward meeting the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

Implosions by both starters took a battle of right-handed aces and transformed it into a near-four-hour war of attrition. Shelby Miller: 3.2 IP, six hits, three earned. Ryan Vogelsong, behind whom the Giants had never lost a postseason game coming in: 3.0 IP, seven hits, four earned.

As has been the case of late, it was the San Francisco bullpen coming out unscathed, and on top, with Santiago Casilla picking up his fourth save of the postseason.

Both teams combined to set a postseason historical mark, as the first six leadoff men all reached on base hits to spark Game 4. The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Matt Adams (2-for-4, one RBI) single, but the Giants quickly recovered, tying the game on a Buster Posey (2-for-3, three RBI) sacrifice fly in the bottom half.

A.J. Pierzynski (1-for-2, one RBI), who became even more despised by the Giants fanbase after flopping on an interference call, single in a go-ahead run in the top of the second. In the top of the third, Matt Holliday (3-for-5) scored on a double play to make it 3-1, before St. Louis' hottest hitter, Kolten Wong (2-for-4, one RBI), extended the lead to 4-1 when he blasted a homer into the right-field seats, landing just a few feet short of bouncing into the Bay. 

But the Giants pen shut the door from that point: Six pitchers—Yusmeiro Petit (3.0 IP, one H, four K), Jeremy Affeldt (0.2 IP, no H), Jean Machi, Javier Lopez (0.1 IP), Sergio Romo (1.0 IP) and Casilla (1.0 IP)—combined to hold the Cardinals to four hits and no runs over the final six frames. Their bats, meanwhile, came alive, as they chipped away to come within 4-3 and then rallied for three more runs in a sixth inning that saw the wheels come completely off the Cardinals.

The tying run scored when Adams, playing in on the grass, stumbled and couldn't get a throw to the plate in time to get Juan Perez. On the next batter, with runners on first and third and one out, Adams took another grounder, stepped on the bag and made a mental error—throwing down to second late and, more critically, failing to pay any attention to Brandon Crawford scampering home. Posey eventually singled in the sixth run.

The Giants head into Game 5 Thursday with the utmost confidence, sending their ace Madison Bumgarner to the hill to face the Cardinals No. 1 man Adam Wainwright. San Francisco can clinch the pennant in front of its home fans, while St. Louis will look to get one back and take the series back to Busch Stadium. 

Stay tuned for more MLB postseason from Bleacher Report, and join us again tomorrow afternoon when we'll provide updates leading up to Game 5 of this NLCS battle between the Cardinals and Giants. Live coverage begins 15 minutes prior to the first pitch (8:07 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1) of a matchup between two aces you won't want to miss. 

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