The Cardinals just ran into a hot pitcher Monday night in game two of the NLCS. Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong limited the Cardinals to four hits and one of his few mistakes was a fastball up in the zone to starting pitcher Chris Carpenter who accounted for the club’s only RBI in a 7-1 loss in San Francisco.   Game three shifts back to St. Louis on Wednesday with Kyle Lohse facing Matt Cain.

Vogelsong did a good job of working both sides of the plate and jammed Cardinal hitters. Carlos Beltran was the only Cardinals who really hit the ball hard, going 2 for 3, with a pair of doubles off Vogelsong. Then there was Carpenter.

After getting two quick outs in the second, Vogelsong had trouble finding the strike zone. Pete Kozma drew a two out walk, and he fell behind Carpenter. With two strikes on Carp, he got a pitch up and Carpenter ripped into the left center gap tying the game at 1-1.

Angel Pagan left off the Giants first with a home run to put the Giants on top. Then Carpenter ran into trouble in the fourth. After allowing a leadoff double to Brandon Belt and a single by Gregor Blanco, Carpenter’s throwing error allowed a run to score. Vogelsong bunted runners to second and third and Pagan drew a walk loading the bases for Marco Scuttaro. In the first, Matt Holliday slid late into second base taking out Scuttaro who had leg issues the rest of the night. Scuttaro repaid with a single to center that got through the legs of Holliday in left, which allowing all the runners to score making it a 5-1 game at that point.

AUDIO Holliday talks about his slide (:25)

The Giants tacked on two more when former Cardinal Ryan Theriot singled in two runs off rookie Shelby Miller in the eighth. That inning was made possible when center fielder Jon Jay made a spectacular, diving catch to rob Brandon Crawford of a hit. Jay threw toward first and the Cardinals should have gotten a double play, but first-base umpire Bill Miller did not see Allen Craig tag Gregor Blanco’s jersey as he raced back to first on the play. Mike Matheny argued the call and the umpires huddled to discuss it, but they kept the safe call even though replays showed Craig made the tag.

Scutaro left after the fifth because of his injured left hip on a play Giants manager Bruce Bochy felt was illegal. X-rays were negative, and Scutaro likely will get an MRI on Tuesday. Bochy felt Holliday didn’t touch dirt until he was beyond the base.   Here’s the play at second.