Giants Force Game 7

SAN FRANCISCO — After halting the relentless forward momentum of the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, the San Francisco Giants returned Sunday for a raucous homecoming and, with remarkable ease, seemed to wrest all that momentum as their own.

Galvanized by their home fans, the Giants cruised to a 6-1 victory against the Cardinals in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park. For the second straight game, they staved off elimination, prolonging their quest to become the seventh team to win a best-of-seven league championship series after falling behind by three games to one. The teams return to the same field Monday night to settle the deadlock.

“We know what’s at stake, and now to get to this point, we’re excited,” Manager Bruce Bochy said. “Being down, 3-1, you go out there and you play like there’s no tomorrow, and these guys have done a great job of it. They’re keeping their poise and finding ways to get it done.”

Matt Cain will start Monday for the Giants, trying to help them extend what would amount to one of the unlikeliest playoff runs in recent memory. Kyle Lohse will take the ball for the Cardinals, hoping to give them a chance to defend their championship. The winner will host the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night for Game 1 of the World Series.

“I don’t want these guys doing anything different than what they’ve been doing to get to this point,” Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. “If they’ve got something else in the tank, then they’ve shorted themselves and they’ve shorted us all season long.”

Spurred on by the crowd, the Giants jumped to a 5-0 lead within the first two innings and then rode the brilliant pitching of Ryan Vogelsong to protect it. After guiding the Giants to their Game 2 victory last week, Vogelsong on Sunday allowed one run, four hits and one walk over seven ruthlessly efficient innings, while recording a career-high nine strikeouts.

He charged through the early part of the game, chomping steadily on a piece of gum and pounding the strike zone with fastballs. Only 3 of his first 31 pitches were off-speed, and he struck out five Cardinals through the first two innings. Gradually, more and more curveballs and changeups tumbled from his hand, but the results stayed the same. Vogelsong did not allow a hit until the fifth inning, and he did not allow a run until the sixth, when Allen Craig slipped a run-scoring single past third base.

“I pitch like it’s 1-0 or 0-0 all the time,” Vogelsong said. “But to have a cushion like that definitely allows you to attack the plate a little more.”

Several Giants players, Vogelsong included, noted the party-like atmosphere inside the ballpark. Before the game, the feeling of occasion was heightened upon the unfurling of an American flag across the width of the outfield and a loud flyover by a pair of swooping fighter jets.

There was an irreverent celebrity presence, too. James Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, grabbed a microphone and warmed up the crowd with a lightly profane pep talk. During the seventh-inning stretch, the rapper Lil Wayne stood on the field and led the crowd, announced at 47,070, through a buoyant rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

“When you have fun, you see the result,” said Pablo Sandoval, who helped ignite his team with a one-out double in the first inning. Sandoval cruised into second, clapping his hands. Then Marco Scutaro, who went from first to third on Sandoval’s hit, scored on Buster Posey’s groundout.

Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals’ big-game specialist, struggled for the second time this series, seeming to get swallowed up by the crackling intensity of the fans. And in an uncanny bit of coincidence, he produced nearly the same pitching line he did during his Game 2 loss: four innings pitched; five runs allowed, only two of them earned; two walks; six hits and 76 total pitches. (He had six strikeouts Sunday after getting only one in his previous start.) In the second, Brandon Belt hit a triple off the high brick wall in right-center field. After an out and an intentional walk to Brandon Crawford, Vogelsong slapped a grounder to shortstop, where Pete Kozma bobbled the ball, allowing Belt to score with ease. Later, Vogelsong rumbled from first, close on Crawford’s heels, to score on Scutaro’s two-run double. The Giants then jumped ahead, 5-0, when Sandoval, after fighting through a 10-pitch at-bat, sent a single through the infield, scoring Scutaro from second.

After enjoying their cushion for the game’s middle expanse, the Giants padded their lead in the eighth inning on Ryan Theriot’s run-scoring, seeing-eye single.

“Home runs are nice, believe me, and we’ll take them if we can get them,” Bochy said. “But that’s not our strength, we know it. So it’s important that we do the small things to help win a ballgame.”

In yet another do-or-die game, the Giants did all those small things, bouncing along with their fans into an unlikely Game 7.