San Francisco, CA (My Sportsbook) - Rich Aurilia belted a three-run homer and Livan Hernandez tossed 8 1/3 strong innings as the San Francisco Giants staved off elimination with an 8-3 win over Atlanta in Game 4 of their National League Division Series. The Braves and Giants will now travel to Turner Field for the decisive Game 5 on Monday. The winner of Monday's game will advance to the NLCS to face St. Louis, which disposed of Arizona in three games.

The Game 5 will be just the second in the National League Division Series since the expanded playoff system debuted in 1995. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cardinals in five games last season.

Aurilia finished 3-for-5 with four RBI for the Giants, who are trying to win their first post-season series since taking the 1989 NLCS. Benito Santiago drove in three runs in the win.

Hernandez (1-0) surrendered three runs on eight hits, while striking out six and walking two. The Cuban righthander improved to 6-0 lifetime in the post-season.

"Hey, that's Livan. He's a competitor. He's one of the best competitors I've been around," said Giants manager Dusty Baker.

Tom Glavine (0-2), who was pitching on just three days' rest, was knocked around in the loss. The veteran lefthander was touched for seven runs on seven hits in just 2 2/3 innings of work. Glavine walked five and struck out one and saw his ERA in the series balloon to 15.26.

"He threw harder tonight than he has all year," Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Glavine's performance. "He's throwing a little bit too strong -- I don't know if he didn't have the confidence in the changeup tonight, or just didn't want to throw it because the fastball was so quick. He just kept missing by a couple of inches, and all of his pitches inside and outside, just off the plate."

Vinny Castilla was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Braves, who are trying to advance to the NLCS for the 12th time in franchise history.

The Giants will send Russ Ortiz to the mound for Game 5, while Kevin Millwood will counter for Atlanta. Ortiz picked up the win in Game 1, but Millwood posted a victory in Game 2 to even the series.

The Giants jumped on the board with two runs in the first inning. Kenny Lofton and Aurilia led off with consecutive singles and Jeff Kent drew a walk to load the bases. Barry Bonds followed with a sacrifice fly to center before Aurilia scored on Santiago's groundout to third. Reggie Sanders was then intentionally walked to load the bases, but Glavine struck out J.T. Snow to end the inning.

San Francisco scored twice more in the second inning to grab a 4-0 lead. David Bell singled leading off and headed to second on Hernandez's sacrifice bunt. Aurilia then drove in Bell with a bloop single to left with two outs. Kent singled to center and Bonds was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Glavine then walked Santiago to force in a run. Sanders popped up to second for the third out.

Aurilia delivered his second homer of the series to give the Giants a seven- run cushion in the third inning. Bell drew a one-out walk, moved to second on Hernandez's bunt and reached third on Lofton's infield single. Aurilia then drilled a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall to chase Glavine from the game. Kevin Gryboski came in and surrendered an infield single to Kent before getting Bonds to pop up to end the frame.

"I felt like I've swung the bat well all series," Aurilia said. "I've hit the ball hard, and just coming into today, I think with Glavine, there's a sense where you have to be patient, but at the same time, if he tries to get ahead of you early in the count, you've got to try to take advantage of it. I think we as a club had a good approach against him the past two starts than he's had against us."

The Braves reached the scoreboard in the fifth inning. Castilla and Keith Lockhart led off the inning with consecutive infield singles, the first two hits allowed by Hernandez. Darren Bragg then grounded into a double play, but Castilla would score on Rafael Furcal's double to right.

The Giants would restore their seven-run advantage in the bottom of the fifth on Santiago's RBI double.

Atlanta added two runs in the sixth inning to make it an 8-3 game. Chipper Jones singled and scored on Javy Lopez's two-out double off Lofton's glove in center. Castilla would drive in Lopez with a base hit to left center, but Lockhart grounded out to short for the final out.

Hernandez got Castilla to ground out to start the ninth, but then surrendered a single to Lockhart. Scott Eyre and Robb Nen would each record an out to close the game out.