Giants reverse roles with key 4-run fourth inning

• With two on and one out, the Cardinals pitcher makes a key throwing error
• After the error, the Giants' Brandon Crawford got a key hit
• The four runs in the fourth inning were all unearned, but they made the difference

ST. LOUIS – Is this how the NL Championship Series turned completely around?

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Two outs. Bases loaded. One-run game.

This was precisely the kind of situation in which the San Francisco Giants had been failing, and that's why they were trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven NLCS.

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Two on. One out. A weak grounder to the pitcher, possibly an inning-ending double play, certainly the second out.

This was precisely the kind of play the St. Louis Cardinals had been gobbling up, which is why they were one victory away from a chance to defend their 2011 World Series title.

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Except that roles were reversed in a stunning, wacky top of the fourth inning Friday night in blustery Busch Stadium and set the wheels in motion for a 5-0 Giants victory in Game 5 and a trip back to San Francisco's AT&T Park with the series still up for grabs.

How bizarre were the 15 minutes or so that stood this NLCS on its ear?

The Giants actually got a clutch hit.

The Cardinals actually flubbed a routine defensive play.

And Giants pitcher Barry Zito, 34, in his 13th season, got what is thought to be the first bunt single of his career.

That bizarre.

"There was some crazy stuff that inning," Cardinals third baseman David Freese said, "and they capitalized."

The inning began with Marco Scutaro and Pablo Sandoval getting back-to-back singles off Cardinals starter Lance Lynn, who had sailed through three no-hit innings.

Then, things began to happen that seemed to define the Giants offense in this series. Catcher Buster Posey struck out for the second time in the game, the fifth time in the series, dropping him to 2-for-16 in the series.

And Hunter Pence, another Giant bust in the series, bounced a harmless chopper to the right of the mound. Lynn fielded it and wheeled to get to the force out at second. Only, shortstop Pete Kozma was a little late covering and Lynn's throw was low, hitting the bag, with Scutaro scoring.

"My fault," Lynn said. "It was just a bad play. If I make a good throw there, maybe I'm out of the inning."

The way Cardinals manager Mike Matheny saw it, Lynn should have just gone for the easy out at first and then, with runners on second and third and two outs, gone after the next hitter, Brandon Belt.

"It didn't work out that way, and we were stuck in a spot where it just kind of spiraled at that point in a hurry," Matheny said. "And that was the game."

Lynn's Cardinal sin, well, error was a little shocking, as St. Louis had been pretty flawless in its execution in the series. Still, the damage seemed like it might be contained to just the one run when Belt popped up for the second out.

Lynn walked Gregor Blanco to load the bases and bring up shortstop Brandon Crawford in exactly the kind of spot the Giants hitters have been mucking up.

Except, this time, Crawford singled sharply up the middle.

Yes, Giants fans, if you've forgotten, this is called A BIG HIT.

Two runs scored to make it 3-0, which figured to be all the Giants would get with Zito coming up.

Except that Zito surprised the Cardinals by dropping a beautiful bunt up the third-base line that Freese fielded but threw wide to first. It appeared Zito would have beaten even a good throw.

The bunt scored the fourth run of the inning and sent Lynn to the showers.

All four runs were unearned.

But all four runs counted, and this very well could have been the moment the Giants, who came back from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds in the division series, turned this series around.

The Cardinals weren't devastated, but they weren't very happy.

"San Francisco is a great city," Freese said, "but I wish we weren't going back there."