http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/sports/baseball/kolten-wong-lifts-cardinals-over-giants-evening-nlcs-at-1-1.html 2014-10-13 07:19:11 Kolten Wong Lifts Cardinals Over Giants, Evening N.L.C.S. at 1-1 St. Louis, who had hit the fewest home runs in the league during the regular season, hit four in Game 2 of the N.L.C.S. to beat the Giants, 5-4, to tie the series. === ST. LOUIS — The last time the John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ general manager, recalled that series, the collapse and the aftermath during batting practice Sunday evening. The Cardinals did not sound any proverbial alarms. They did not hold any emergency meetings. They saw no reason to tweak their philosophy, often called the Cardinal Way. They made the World Series the next year. Mozeliak said he focused on building the team as best he could, but the postseason often gives way to randomness, depending on who is healthy, who is pitching well, or who is hot at the right time. Case in point: The Cardinals’ dramatic 5-4 victory against the Giants later Sunday night. The Cardinals lost an early lead that they regained on two home runs only to lose the lead again in the top of the ninth when the Giants scored from second on a wild pitch. But with one more home run — a solo shot from Kolten Wong in the bottom of the ninth — the Cardinals evened the N.L.C.S. at a game apiece. Game 3 is Tuesday in San Francisco. The Cardinals had hit the fewest home runs in the N.L. during the regular season, when they had four game-winning home runs. But the long ball helped erase several missed opportunities for them on Sunday. The Cardinals had two runners on, with no outs, in the fourth inning, with Yadier Molina at the plate. Matt Carpenter had given them a 1-0 lead with a homer in the third, and this seemed to be their chance to put the game out of reach. But Manager Mike Matheny allowed Molina to bunt with the bottom of the order coming up, and the move backfired. The Giants countered by intentionally walking the next batter, Wong, to load the bases. Randal Grichuk followed with a run-scoring single to right. But Jake Peavy got Lance Lynn to fly out to shallow right field, not deep enough to score the runner from third. Peavy then got Carpenter to fly out on a 2-0 cutter. The Giants have seemed to be the team catching all the breaks in the postseason — scoring runs in unorthodox ways, winning games that appeared out of their reach — and this looked like another fortunate turn for them. They outlasted the Washington Nationals in the longest game by time in playoff history — 6 hours 23 minutes — by rallying in the ninth inning and hitting a go-ahead homer a few hours later in the 18th. They clinched that division series with a 3-2 win, and all three runs scored without the ball leaving the infield: on a bases-loaded walk, a bases-loaded groundout, and a wild pitch. Entering Sunday, they had scored seven runs in their last three games, and six had come without a hit. “Luck, it’s a beautiful thing,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said before Sunday’s game. “You take it if it goes your way.” The Giants’ luck arrived Sunday in the fifth. With one out and a runner on first, Travis Ishikawa lifted a fly ball to left-center field. The Cardinals’ Jon Jay sprinted over, launched toward the ball, and grabbed it. For a moment, the play conjured memories of Jim Edmonds’s diving catch in the 2004 N.L.C.S. But as Jay landed, the ball popped out. The Giants runners advanced to second and third. The next batter, pinch-hitter Joaquin Arias, broke his bat as he softly grounded out to second to score a run. The Giants seemed to be gaining confidence. Pablo Sandoval hit a two-out double in the sixth, and Hunter Pence singled him home to tie the at 2-2. In the seventh, Gregor Blanco singled home Brandon Crawford to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. The crowd had gotten eerily quiet, when Matheny called on the rookie Oscar Taveras to pinch-hit in the seventh. The Cardinals’ offense had been quiet since the fourth inning, and Molina had since exited the game on what looked like an innocent play. He hit a ground ball that led to a double play and hunched over near the home plate area. He was said to have a strained left oblique, and Tony Cruz replaced him behind the plate. Taveras, the 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic, was considered among the top prospects in baseball. He did not disappoint, hitting a solo home run to tie the game, 3-3. The Giants called on their own rookie, September call-up Hunter Strickland, to pitch the eighth. Strickland got ahead 1-2, and fired a 97-mile-per-hour fastball, and Adams muscled it for a home run to right field. The game should have ended easily then, when the Cardinals brought on their closer, Trevor Rosenthal, for the ninth. But the Giants responded with one last blow. Andrew Susac and Juan Perez singled. Then facing Joe Panik, Rosenthal bounced a 3-2 fastball well in front of the plate, and pinch-runner Matt Duffy raced around to score from second. Wong, who got picked off at first base to end a World Series game last October, swung at the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the inning, a changeup from Sergio Romo, to end it.