In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cardinals came home to roost.
Cardinals knock out Lincecum, take 4-1 lead in 5th inning
Tim Lincecum hadn't given up a hit since the first inning, when he gave up two runs. But there had been some hard-hit balls and some deep drives, so it wasn't like Lincecum was blowing the Cardinals away. They just hadn't been hitting them to the right spots.
In the fifth, they found the spots. Jon Jay led off and grounded out, but Matt Carpenter jumped on a 2-and-0 fastball, drove it over center fielder Ángel Pagán's head, and missed a home run by ... well, see for yourself:
Matt Holliday came up next and smacked Lincecum's second offering into center field, but not as deep. Carpenter had to see if Pagan was going to catch it; when Pagan came up short but made a fine stop, Carpenter tried to score. He shouldn't have, but he did ...
when catcher Hector Sánchez couldn't squeeze the ball, which arrived in plenty of time to nail Carpenter.
But instead Carpenter was safe, with Holliday moving to second.
Lincecum battled back to strike out Craig, but his night was over when Yadier Molina grounded a single up the middle, with Holliday sprinting home to make it 4-1.
George Kontos, the Giants' semi-official long man, trotted in from the bullpen and, as he has so often in the last couple of weeks, put the fire out by retiring David Freese on a grounder to second.
Plenty of damage had been done. Adam Wainwright's been outstanding, and after five innings it's Cardinals 4, Giants 1.
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