Cardinals vs. Giants NLCS Game 4 recap: St. Louis defeats San Francisco, 8-3

The St. Louis Cardinals are one game away from a berth in the 2012 World Series after defeating the San Francisco Giants, 8-3, on Thursday and taking a 3-1 series lead in the NLCS.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright threw 96 pitches in seven innings, allowing one earned run on four hits while striking out five for the win.

Jon Jay, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina combined for six hits and six runs batted in to secure the Cardinals' victory.

The Giants scored two runs in the ninth inning when Pablo Sandoval homered off of reliever Fernando Salas to cut the Cardinals' lead to 8-3, but that's as close as they would get as Hunter Pence later fouled out to first to end the game.

The Cardinals were without Carlos Beltran, who suffered a knee injury in the first inning of Game 3.

A St. Louis win against the Giants on Friday would setup a rematch of the 2006 World Series with the Detroit Tigers, who finished their sweep of the Yankees in the ALCS on Thursday.