SAN FRANCISCO • The Cardinals stole an opportunity to tie Friday’s game.
It’s the opportunities they gave away that cost them.
What otherwise was a taut game laced with October fervor between two familiar October foes turned often against the Cardinals because of an error here or a walk there. The Cardinals committed three errors in the game, and in the ninth inning reliever Kevin Siegrist walked two batters to push the potential winning run all the way to third base. The Cardinals packed the infield with an extra fielder, but it didn’t matter when infielder Kelby Tomlinson laced a line-drive single up the middle to take advantage of Siegrist’s charity.