In a postseason full of twists and turns, the San Francisco Giants are headed back to the World Series after a big comeback against the defending champs.

Hunter Pence got the Giants going with a weird double, Matt Cain pitched his second clincher of October and San Francisco closed out Game 7 of the NL championship series in a driving rainstorm, routing the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 Monday night.

San Francisco won its record-tying sixth elimination game of the postseason, completing a lopsided rally from a 3-1 deficit.

”These guys never quit,” Manager Bruce Bochy said. ”They just kept believing and they got it done.”

The Giants, who won it all in 2010, will host Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

Verlander is set to pitch Wednesday’s opener. Bochy insisted before Monday’s game he had not planned any further in advance.

Series MVP Marco Scutaro produced his sixth multihit game of the series and matched an LCS record with 14 hits and Pablo Sandoval drove in a run for his fifth straight game.

After falling behind 3-1 in the series at Busch Stadium, the Giants outscored the wild-card Cardinals 20-1 over the final three games behind stellar starting pitching from Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong and Cain.

They also benefited from some strange bounces.

On Pence’s double that highlighted a five-run third, his bat broke at the label on impact, then the broken barrel hit the ball twice more. That put a rolling, slicing spin on the ball and caused it to change directions – leaving shortstop Pete Kozma little chance to make the play. Kozma broke to his right, figuring that’s where the ball would go, but it instead curved to left-center.

Injured closer Brian Wilson, with that out-of-control bushy black beard, danced in the dugout and fans in the sellout crowd of 43,056 kept twirling their orange rally towels even through rain in the late innings – a downright downpour when Sergio Romo retired Matt Holliday on a popup to Scutaro to end it.

”This rain never felt so good,” Scutaro said.

Romo embraced catcher Buster Posey as fireworks went off over McCovey Cove beyond right field.

The NL West champion Giants won their first postseason clincher at home since the 2002 NLCS, also against the Cardinals.

These 2012 Giants have a couple of pretty talented castoffs of their own not so different from that winning combination of 2010 ”castoffs and misfits” as Bochy referred to his bunch – with Scutaro right there at the top of the list this time around.

Acquired July 27 from the division rival Colorado Rockies, Scutaro hit .500 (14 for 28) with four RBIs in the NLCS. The 36-year-old journeyman infielder, playing in his second postseason and first since 2006 with Oakland, became the first player in major league history with six multihit games in an LCS.

Now, he’s headed to his first World Series.

The Giants have All-Star game MVP Melky Cabrera to thank for helping his teammates secure home-field advantage in the postseason – while Cain was the winning pitcher the National League’s 8-0 victory in July. Cabrera was suspended 50 games Aug. 15 for a positive testosterone test, then wasn’t added to the roster by the Giants after his suspension ended.

After rain fell on the Cardinals during batting practice, the skies turned blue and the weather cooperated. Anxious players on both sides hung over the dugout rails as the game began.

Cain joined St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter as the only pitchers with victories in two winner-take-all games in the same postseason. Carpenter, who lost Games 2 and 6 in this series, did it last year.

Cain also pitched the Giants’ Game 5 division series clincher at Cincinnati, when San Francisco became the first team in major league history to come back from an 0-2 deficit in a five-game series by winning three consecutive road games.

”I think to do it, the guys actually have to believe it can happen,” Posey said.

He delivered on an even bigger stage Monday as San Francisco saved its season once again. The Giants won their 20th NL pennant and reached their 19th World Series.

Cain walked off the mound to a standing ovation when Jeremy Affeldt entered with two outs in the sixth. Affeldt then got Daniel Descalso to pop out with two runners on.

Yadier Molina had four hits but got little help from the rest of the Cardinals, who went 1 for 21 with runners in scoring position over their final three games.

Cain added an RBI single to his cause and got some sparkling defense behind him.

The play of the game went to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who made a leaping catch of Kyle Lohse’s liner to end the second inning with runners on second and third that would have been a run-scoring hit.

In the third, Scutaro, the second baseman, made a tough stop on a short hop by Carlos Beltran, and left fielder Gregor Blanco ran down a hard-hit ball by Allen Craig in left-center to end the inning.

Cain’s second-inning single made San Francisco the first team in major league postseason history to have a starting pitcher drive in a run in three straight games.

Brandon Belt hit a solo homer in the eighth for his first clout of the postseason.

It took production from everybody, even the pitchers, for these scrappy Giants to rally back from the brink one more time.

Cain certainly did his part to keep the staff rolling.

The 16-game winner, who didn’t surrender an earned run during his team’s title run two years ago, reached 46 pitches through two innings but settled in nicely the rest of the way to avenge a loss to Lohse in Game 3.

Cain even got to repay Holliday for his hard slide into Scutaro at second base in Game 2 here a week earlier. Cain plunked Holliday in the upper left arm leading off the sixth, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The right-hander escaped trouble in the second with runners on second and third when Crawford made his catch.

Holliday returned to the lineup after missing Game 6 a night earlier with tightness in his lower back. He received loud boos when he stepped in to hit in the first from a fan base still angry about his slide that injured Scutaro’s hip.

Beltran is still left 0-fer the World Series, winless in three Game 7s during his 15-year career. And to think just last fall he was on the other side with the Giants as they missed the playoffs a year after winning the club’s first World Series since moving West in 1958.

The Cardinals went an NL-best 12-4 from Sept. 16 to the end of the season to earn the NL’s second wild card on the second-to-last day of the season, then won 6-3 in a winner-take-all playoff at Atlanta to reach the division series. The Cardinals then rallied from a 6-0 deficit with a four-run ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 9-7 in Game 5.

Scutaro joined Hideki Matsui (2004 Yankees), Albert Pujols (2004 Cardinals) and Kevin Youkilis (2007 Red Sox) with 14 hits in a league championship series.

Sandoval’s run-scoring groundout in the first that put his team ahead gave him at least one RBI in five straight postseason games, matching home run king Barry Bonds’ franchise record set in 2002.

— Associated Press —

Ryan Vogelsong and these San Francisco Giants sure have become adept at saving their season.

Now, they need to do it once more against the comeback champs.

Vogelsong struck out a career-best nine in another postseason gem and on his biggest stage yet, and San Francisco staved off elimination for the second straight game, pushing St. Louis to a winner-take-all Game 7 in the NL championship series with a 6-1 victory Sunday night.

”There are two teams in the same boat right now. You’ll see two teams go out and give it everything they’ve got,” Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt said. ”This is what we play all year for and we’ll put it all on the line. This is Game 7. There’s only one better Game 7. They are no more what-if scenarios.”

Turns out the defending champion Cardinals aren’t the only team tough to put away in October.

Marco Scutaro delivered a two-run double and Buster Posey drove in his first run of the series with a groundout in the first inning as San Francisco struck early to support Vogelsong.

San Francisco’s Matt Cain and St. Louis’ Kyle Lohse are set to pitch in a rematch of Game 3, won by the Cardinals. There’s a forecast of rain in the Bay Area during the day.

”It’s time to get it done,” Lohse said.

These wild-card Cardinals sure seem to like the all-or-nothing route in October, while San Francisco thrives playing from behind.

”Clutch performances are just guys playing normally in big spots. You can’t be petrified by the situation, and neither of these teams have been,” St. Louis’ Lance Berkman said. ”One of the things that makes Game 7’s so interesting is that I don’t think either of these teams is going to choke it away.”

Five games with their year on the line, five wins for these gutsy Giants this postseason. Now, it comes down to one game for the past two World Series champions to return, with the Detroit Tigers waiting.

Pitching to chants of ”Vogey! Vogey!” from the sellout crowd of 43,070 at AT&T Park, the right-hander didn’t allow a hit until Daniel Descalso’s broken-bat single to center with two outs in the fifth. Vogelsong struck out the side in the first and had already fanned five through two innings.

”This place is going to be loud, I can tell you that,” Vogelsong said of Monday night.

Scutaro had no chance for a collision with Matt Holliday this time. In their first game back at AT&T Park since Holliday took out the second baseman with a hard slide in Game 2, Holliday was scratched about an hour before first pitch because of tightness in his lower back, and Allen Craig replaced him in left field.

It hardly mattered the way Vogelsong pitched.

The Cardinals managed their only run on Craig’s two-out single in the sixth. St. Louis had gone 15 innings without scoring after left-hander Barry Zito won 5-0 on Friday in Game 5.

”I just tried to do really the same thing he did, come out and set the tone early for us,” Vogelsong said.

Vogelsong had his second stellar seven-inning outing against the Cardinals in a week, allowing four hits and one run. He walked one in a 102-pitch performance and lowered his postseason ERA – all this year – to 1.42.

The 35-year-old Vogelsong toiled through the minors, Japan and even winter ball to finally pitch under the October spotlight for a chance at the World Series. His latest impressive outing put the Giants one win away.

”I just believe that it’s my time,” Vogelsong said.

After taking a 3-1 lead back home at Busch Stadium, Mike Matheny’s Cardinals will have to find some offense in a hurry if they want to get back to the World Series.

”We’ve got to make some adjustments but our team’s done that all season,” Matheny said. ”One thing I know is these guys take these to heart.”

These Cards might just prefer close calls. Just like last year.

They won the NL’s second wild card on the second-to-last day of the regular season, then won at Atlanta to reach the division series. The Cardinals rallied from a 6-0 deficit with a four-run ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 9-7 in Game 5 of the division series.

The Giants got to St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter again. The Cardinals winningest postseason pitcher with 10 victories looked out of sync for the second straight start – and he left with a nearly identical line as in his 7-1 Game 2 loss here last Monday, down to the hits, earned runs, unearned runs and innings.

Carpenter was done in by one big inning this time, too. He allowed six hits and five runs, two earned, in four innings.

”The bottom line is I’m not giving my team a chance to win,” Carpenter said. ”You go out with a 5-0 lead after two innings, it’s not giving your team a chance.”

Vogelsong reached on shortstop Pete Kozma’s fielding error in the second, scoring Brandon Belt after he led off the inning with a triple. Scutaro came up two batters later and doubled home two more runs.

The 10 unearned runs allowed by the Cardinals are the most in an NLCS, according to STATS LLC – topping the nine given up by the Braves in 2001 and Dodgers in 1985.

San Francisco never faced an elimination game in 2010 on the way to winning the World Series, but has had to go the distance in each of its first two postseason series this year. They became the first team in major league history to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five series by winning three straight on the road as they did at Cincinnati.

”We’re enjoying this moment. We know how to handle this situation,” San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval said.

They have Vogelsong along for this year’s run.

”He was on top of his game again,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ”He’s probably been as consistent as any starter this year.”

The Giants put pressure on Carpenter right away.

Scutaro drew a one-out walk and Sandoval doubled off the wall in center on a ball that eluded Jon Jay. Posey followed with a groundout to third to score Scutaro for a 1-0 lead.

Scutaro is batting .458 (11 for 24) during the NLCS.

”I don’t really know, man,” Scutaro said when asked to explain it. ”Just excited to come to the field every day. … Being in this opportunity, just being in the playoffs, is amazing.”

While the Giants have won five straight games facing elimination this postseason, the Cardinals have won their last six dating to last year. This is the first time the NLCS has gone seven games since 2006, when St. Louis beat the New York Mets 3-1 at Shea Stadium. Carlos Beltran, now with the Cardinals, struck out looking when Adam Wainwright froze him on a curveball.

”This night, this moment belongs to every player in here and every fan in the stands,” San Francisco right fielder Hunter Pence said. ”There’s still another story to be told, and we’ll just have to wait and see if we’re going to enjoy it.”

— Associated Press —

The big curveball was back, and Barry Zito mixed in some well-placed fastballs, too.

It was just like the good old days.

Zito was at his best Friday night, pitching San Francisco back into the NL championship series with a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals that narrowed its deficit to 3-2.

”All things considered, you know, there’s definitely some playoff memories there, but they were in a different uniform,” the soft-tossing lefty said after his first playoff win in six years sent the series back to San Francisco.

”This was probably the biggest one for me.”

Game 6 will begin Sunday in the twilight at AT&T Park, with Ryan Vogelsong pitching against the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter.

”I’m sure Carpenter is going to be on top of his game, as always,” Vogelsong said. ”I’m going to have to be sharp because with him on the mound one run can lose a game for you.”

Zito looked like the same guy who won 23 games and the 2002 AL Cy Young Award with the Athletics. He retired 11 batters in a row in one stretch while scattering six hits with six strikeouts in 7 2-3 innings.

Giants catcher Buster Posey twice tapped Zito on the chest when he was pulled in the eighth. It was Zito’s fifth postseason win but first since 2006, shortly before he left the A’s and signed a $126 million, seven-year contract with San Francisco.

”This is definitely it for me,” Zito said. ”Coming here, especially doing it in a Giants uniform. A lot of people were saying stuff about A’s days. And for me, the most important thing is doing everything for San Francisco right now.”

Zito was left off the postseason roster when the Giants won the 2010 World Series because he had pitched so poorly.

Zito’s 15-8 record this year was his first winning season since joining the Giants. He started Game 4 of the division series against the Reds and lasted only 2 2-3 innings.

”I couldn’t be happier for him,” manager Bruce Bochy said. ”He had it all going. He put on quite a show.”

The defending champion Cardinals might have thrown away a chance to clinch a second straight World Series trip. Pitcher Lance Lynn’s toss on a possible forceout deflected off the second-base bag, paving the way for the Giants’ four-run fourth.

Lynn was trying to turn the front end of a double play.

”I turned to throw it and I just threw it in the ground,” he said. ”Just a bad play. You make a good throw there and we are out of the inning. It was one of those times where I just short-armed it a little bit.”

Pablo Sandoval homered for the second straight night and Zito made an extremely rare offensive contribution with a perfectly executed bunt for an RBI single.

The Giants also made several nice plays behind Zito, including a juggling catch in right by Hunter Pence and a spectacular sliding stop by second baseman Marco Scutaro to rob pinch-hitter Shane Robinson on consecutive at-bats.

Once again this postseason, the Giants benefited from a big error.

Needing three straight wins at Cincinnati to avoid elimination in the division series, San Francisco began its comeback on a bobble by third baseman Scott Rolen in the 10th inning that gave the Giants the go-ahead run in Game 3.

The Giants improved to 4-2 on the road this postseason and have won Zito’s last 13 starts, with the last setback on Aug. 2. They’re averaging more than six runs a game during the streak, although the left-hander didn’t need much help in this one.

Lynn, an 18-game winner his first year in the rotation, failed to make it out of the fourth for the second time in the series.

”I didn’t give up a hit until the fourth, I had good stuff, it was just another bad inning,” Lynn said. ”This time of year, they are going to blow up on you, if you give them that extra out. And I gave them that extra out.”

The Cardinals are seeking consecutive pennants for the first time since 1967-68, and trying to advance for the second year in a row as a wild-card entry. One more win would set up a rematch of the 2006 World Series against the Tigers, which the Cardinals took in five games.

Before the game, Jon Jay and David Freese spent time on the podium discussing why the Cardinals have been so successful, but manager Mike Matheny didn’t think his players relaxed.

”There’s distractions from you guys every day,” Matheny told reporters after the game. ”That’s part of the gig. Just today we had a guy come out and pitch us tough, and we didn’t get the execution when we needed it. That’s what it all comes down to.”

Lynn struck out five of his first 10 batters, sailing through the first three innings with no balls hit out of the infield. His undoing was a wild throw off the second-base bag attempting to get a forceout on a comebacker that paved the way for San Francisco’s four-run fourth.

The Giants had runners on first and second with one out when Lynn gloved a tapper by Pence, wheeled and threw while shortstop Pete Kozma hustled to second. But Lynn threw a low dart off the bag with the ball bounding into shallow right field and Marco Scutaro scoring without a play from second.

Eighth-place hitter Brandon Crawford singled up the middle with the bases loaded on a full-count pitch with two outs, as Lynn just missed with a kick save for two more runs. Zito, who has just 30 career hits in 310 at-bats in the regular season with nine RBIs, laid down a perfect bunt for a fourth run.

Lynn has allowed four runs in both of his NLCS starts, although all four were unearned in Game 5. Matheny was noncommittal about the Cardinals’ pitching plans if they made it to the World Series.

One possible rotation replacement is Jake Westbrook, coming off a pulled oblique muscle, who pronounced himself ready after throwing a simulated game earlier in the week.

”Moving forward, he’s been a very, very good pitcher for us this season,” Matheny said of Lynn. ”And we don’t look any further past right now, for right now.”

Zito’s only trouble came in the second when Yadier Molina and David Freese, both swinging on the first pitch, opened the inning with a single and double. Lynn, a career .056 hitter including the postseason, hit into a bases-loaded double play to end the threat.

Lynn was 3 for 50 with 36 strikeouts during the regular season, going hitless his last 42 at-bats.

— Associated Press —