San Francisco, CA (My Sportsbook) - Eli Marrero homered in the sixth inning to snap a tie and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 5-4 victory over San Francisco in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Mike Matheny and Jim Edmonds also homered for the Cardinals, who cut their deficit in the best-of-seven series to two-games-to-one.

Edmonds also drove in a run in the second inning, as did Edgar Renteria with a sacrifice fly.

Cardinals starter Chuck Finley (1-0) threw five innings to earn his first career post-season victory. The lefthander was charged with four runs on seven hits. He struck out one and walked three.

"If you go down 3-0, it would be really tough to come back," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "With a win, we made it a competitive series. But they're still in charge."

Barry Bonds hit a three-run homer for the Giants, who won the first two games of series in St. Louis.

With the Giants trailing 4-1, Bonds tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with one swing of the bat. Rich Aurilia walked to start the frame and Jeff Kent followed with a single before Bonds hit Finley's 1-0 pitch over the left-field seats and into McCovey Cove.

"It changes the mood in the dugout," Bonds said of his homer. "It gets everybody fired up. But then they came back and took the lead."

"From where I was I thought it was a pretty good pitch and he hits it into the bay," La Russa said. "That shows how incredible Bonds is."

Marrero quickly put St. Louis back on top, 5-4, with a homer to left leading off the sixth inning off Giants reliever Jay Witasick (0-1).

"We knew we had to turn it around in a hurry," Matheny said after the game.

Dave Veres, Steve Kline and Rick White combined to throw three scoreless innings for the Cardinals. Jason Isringhausen struck out two in throwing a scoreless ninth for the save. Isringhausen walked Bonds with one out after striking out Kent to start the frame, then struck out Benito Santiago before getting Reggie Sanders to fly out to end the game.

Game 4 is set for Sunday night at Pac Bell Park.

San Francisco had plenty of chances in this game, but left 11 men on base.

The Giants loaded the bases in the seventh inning with one out against Veres, who then struck out Sanders. Kline came in to get J.T. Snow to ground out to end the frame.

David Bell led off the San Francisco eighth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Shawon Dunston. Kenny Lofton, however, grounded out and White came in to retire Aurilia on a grounder to third.

Giants starter Russ Ortiz, who won his two starts in the NLDS against the Braves, was charged with four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Ortiz struck out three and issued three walks.

San Francisco loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning, but Finley escaped after only allowing one run on four hits. Back-to-back singles by Snow and Bell started the frame and Ortiz reached safely to load the bases on a fielder's choice. Ortiz laid down a bunt, but Finley never moved from the mound and Cardinals first baseman Tino Martinez failed to pick up the ball cleanly. With one out, Bell scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Aurilia for the game's first run. Kent singled to re-load the bases, but Bonds flied out to end the inning.

The Cardinals jumped in front with a pair of runs in the third to take their first lead of the series. Finley reached on a strikeout wild pitch to start the inning and went to third on a double by Fernando Vina. Lofton, the Giants centerfielder, misjudged the ball hit by Vina, and then failed to make a leaping catch. The ball bounced off his glove and rolled to the wall. Renteria followed with a sacrifice fly to score Finley and Edmonds grounded out to short to score Vina, who had moved over to third on Renteria's fly ball.

Matheny hit a 2-0 pitch from Ortiz over the left-field wall with one out in the fourth to increase the Cardinals' lead to 3-1. The homer was the first for Matheny since April 26.

Edmonds gave St. Louis a 4-1 lead with an opposite-field blast with one out in the fifth inning. Edmonds had driven a ball out of the park to right, but foul, earlier in the at-bat.

St. Louis put runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the first, but Ortiz got J.D. Drew to fly out to center to end the inning.

The Giants loaded the bases without a hit in the home first with two outs, but Sanders flied out to shallow center to end the threat. Edmonds made the catch despite being screened by Vina, who jumped in front of the centerfielder attempting to make the catch.

Bonds, who had just one post-season home run in his career coming into this season, hit his fourth homer of the 2002 post-season.

Marrero was in a 1-for-12 slump when he stepped to the plate in the sixth. The Cardinals, still without third baseman Scott Rolen, changed their lineup around. Albert Pujols moved from left to third base in place of Miguel Cairo, while Marrero took Cairo's place in the lineup and played left field. Also, Renteria hit second and Martinez was dropped to seventh. Martinez was 0-for-4 on Saturday and is mired in a 1-for-22 slump this post-season.

San Francisco's Livan Hernandez pitches against Andy Benes in Game 4 on Sunday.