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San Francisco • This time, Carlos Beltran, David Freese and the St. Louis Cardinals took a six-run lead — and held onto it, barely.

Beltran and Freese hit two-run homers and these wild, wild-card Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the NL championship series.

The defending World Series champions took an early 6-0 cushion and made it stand up. Only two nights earlier, the Cardinals came back from a 6-0 deficit, using a four-run rally in the ninth inning at Washington in the deciding Game 5 of the division series.

"The way we play the game, we have been in this type of situation before in the regular season," Beltran said. "These guys have this mentality of not panicking."

The St. Louis bullpen delivered with 51⁄3 scoreless innings after starter Lance Lynn was chased early. Edward Mujica, the fifth St. Louis pitcher, struck out the side in order in the seventh for the win. Jason Motte finished for his second save of the postseason.

The Cardinals gave first-year manager Mike Matheny a win against his former club. Matheny's crew hardly looked road weary after a cross-country trip. The Giants dropped to 0-3 at home so far during these playoffs, outscored 20-6 at AT&T Park.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night. Chris Carpenter pitches for the Cardinals against Ryan Vogelsong.

This is the first time the previous two World Series winners are facing off in the postseason since the 1958 World Series between the Braves and Yankees.

Beltran's fourth-inning drive into the seats in left-center chased San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner, who has been a far cry from the impressive pitcher he was during the 2010 World Series run.

It was Beltran's 14th career postseason home run and third this October.

"Right now I'm really enjoying myself," Beltran said. "Right now I'm seeing the ball well. I feel like I have a good approach at the plate, I feel like I'm not trying to do too much, and good things are happening."

Both teams were well rested a day after a rough night of travel. The Giants barely beat the Cardinals to the Bay Area early Saturday after they were delayed three hours on the tarmac in Cincinnati on Friday night — to refuel and for a mechanical problem after waiting out the Cardinals-Nationals game to know where they were headed next.

Matheny stuck with the same winning lineup that he sent out for Game 5, and some of the same faces came through again.

"They put together some better at-bats than us," Giants center fielder Angel Pagan said. "They hit some homers and were up 6-0. That's a pretty good lead in the playoffs. We tried to battle back. We did our best, but it wasn't our night."

Daniel Descalso, who hit a tying, two-out single in Friday's 9-7 win, added two more hits with a double.

Descalso hit a one-out double in the fourth, then rookie Pete Kozma drove him home with a double of his own. In the ninth inning Friday, Kozma followed Descalso with a go-ahead, two-run single.

Descalso shined playing in his native Northern California. He spends his offseasons in San Francisco's Marina district.

Beltran and Freese each had two strikes when they homered.

"I think that's been very much of a strong suit for us all season," Matheny said. "And it's a beautiful thing when these guys trust themselves when they get to two strikes. They can be a little more selective early in the count and then they're not going to panic when we do get to two strikes. I give the guys a lot of credit." Cardinals 6, Giants 4

St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Jay cf 5 1 1 1 0 1 .200

Beltran rf 4 1 1 2 0 0 .250

Holliday lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250

Craig 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .000

Y.Molina c 4 1 1 0 0 1 .250

Freese 3b 4 1 1 2 0 1 .250

Descalso 2b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .500

Kozma ss 4 1 1 1 0 1 .250

Lynn p 1 0 0 0 1 1 .000

J.Kelly p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Rzepczynski p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

b-Schumakr ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Rosenthal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Mujica p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Boggs p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

d-Robinson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Motte p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Totals 35 6 8 6 2 7

San Fran AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Pagan cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 .200

Scutaro 2b 5 1 2 0 0 1 .400

Sandoval 3b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .000

Posey c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .000

Pence rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .250

Belt 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .250

G.Blanco lf 4 1 1 2 0 0 .250

B.Crawford ss 4 0 1 1 0 1 .250

Bumgarner p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Kontos p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

a-A.Huff ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 —-

Lincecum p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

c-Theriot ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 —-

Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

S.Casilla p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Mijares p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

e-Sanchez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 34 4 7 4 4 7

St. Louis 020 400 000 — 6 8 0

San Francisco 000 400 000 — 4 7 1

a-walked for Kontos in the 4th. b-lined out for Rzepczynski in the 6th. c-walked for Lincecum in the 6th. d-lined out for Boggs in the 9th. e-flied out for Mijares in the 9th.

LOB—St. Louis 4, San Fran 7. 2B—Descalso (1), Kozma (1), B.Crawford (1). 3B—G.Blanco (1). HR—Freese (1), off Bumgarner Beltran (1), off Bumgarner. RBIs—Jay (1), Beltran 2 (2), Freese 2 (2), Kozma (1), Belt (1), G.Blanco 2 (2), B.Crawford (1). SB—Holliday (1), Kozma (1).

Runners left in scoring position—St. Louis 2, San Francisco 2. RISP—St. Louis 2 for 6 San Francisco 3 for 6.

St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Lynn 32⁄3 5 4 4 2 3 9.82

J.Kelly 1 1 0 0 1 0 0.00

Rzepczynski 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Rosenthal 1 0 0 0 1 1 0.00

Mujica W, 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0.00

Boggs 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Motte S, 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00

San Fran IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Bmgrnr L, 0-1 32⁄3 8 6 6 1 2 14.73

Kontos 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Lincecum 2 0 0 0 1 1 0.00

Affeldt 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

S.Casilla 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Mijares 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Inherited runners-scored—J.Kelly 2-0, Rzepczynski 2-0.

Umpires—Home, Gary Darling First, Chris Guccione Second, Bill Miller Third, Greg Gibson Right, Jerry Layne Left, Ted Barrett.

T—3:21. A—42,534 (41,915).