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"I think we feel that it's time to give Madison a little break," Bochy said of Bumgarner, who allowed six runs in 3 2-3 innings in Game 1.
Beltran is batting .400 in the postseason with three homers and six RBIs, but Carpenter had big numbers against Cain. Before the homer in the third that put St. Louis up 2-1, he was 4 for 4 for his career against Cain, all four singles.
This one was a much bigger deal, a drive that soared over the Cardinals' bullpen in right field and was estimated at 421 feet.
"All those at-bats were a grind facing him, and it was the same way tonight," Carpenter said. "You don't expect things like that to happen."
The 26-year-old Carpenter entered the game 1 for 5 in the postseason, all five pinch-hit appearances, with an RBI single in the wild-card playoff against Atlanta. He got 14 of his 46 RBIs in April as the primary sub at first base for injured Lance Berkman.
On Tuesday, Carpenter was among a group of seldom-used hitters trying to stay sharp by facing Jake Westbrook in a simulated game. The rest of the team had the day off.
Umpires called for the tarpaulin right after the Cardinals made it 3-1 on a run-scoring single by Shane Robinson and Cain was lifted.
It was the third game delayed by rain this postseason and a fourth, Game 4 of the Yankees-Tigers ALCS, was postponed later Wednesday night. Two games between the Yankees and Orioles in Baltimore began late because of inclement weather.
The rain intensified less than 10 minutes after the field was covered, chasing most fans who had remained in their seats to that point. Spotters for the National Weather Service reported 60 mph winds in nearby St. Charles County.
A highlight of the delay was a Pac-Man style chase. Ushers pursued and finally apprehended a fan who jumped out of the stands to get a baseball near the warning track in left field, and then jutted in and out of aisles to elude several ushers who had been closing in.
The storm had been widely anticipated. Some forecasts called for a 70 percent chance of rain. Both managers fielded questions Tuesday and Wednesday about whether the probability of precipitation would affect their selection of the starting pitcher.
The Giants entered 70-22 when scoring first, including the postseason, and took the lead in the third on Pablo Sandoval's run-scoring groundout after leadoff hits by Angel Pagan and Scutaro, whose legs looked just fine on an opposite-field double flared just over first baseman Allen Craig's glove.
Beltran leads all players with eight extra-base hits in the 2012 playoffs and is a career .375 hitter in the postseason, highest ever among players with a minimum of 100 at-bats.
NOTES: Danny Cox, who pitched for Cardinals World Series teams in 1985 and 1987, threw a perfect strike on the first pitch. ... Jay, who was hit by a pitch to start the game, was plunked 15 times in the regular season. ... Matheny had 122 lineups during the regular season but has stuck with the same eight throughout the postseason. ... The Cardinals' win ended a streak of scoring at least six runs in the last eight postseason victories dating to Game 3 of the World Series last year, the longest streak of its kind in postseason history. St. Louis entered averaging 7.6 runs in 16 wins the last two postseasons and just 2.3 runs in the 10 losses. ... Carpenter and Pete Kozma are the first Cardinals rookie teammates to homer in the same postseason history. ... David Freese had two hits for St. Louis and is a career .455 hitter (15 for 33) in the NLCS with four homers, four doubles and 11 RBIs.
[Associated
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