Cardinals 6, Giants 4: David Freese and Carlos Beltran homered as visiting St. Louis held off San Francisco to win Game 1 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Freese put the Cardinals ahead with a two-run homer in the second off Madison Bumgarner (0-1), who was pulled after Beltran capped a four-run fourth inning with a two-out, two-run blast to left field.

Neither starting pitcher made it to the fifth inning after the Giants sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth and scored four runs with two outs against Lance Lynn. Six St. Louis relievers tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings, with Edward Mujica (1-0) earning the win after he struck out the side in the seventh. Jason Motte worked around a two-out single in the ninth for the save.

After going 10-3 with a 2.38 ERA at home in the regular season, Bumgarner has yielded 10 runs over eight innings in his two playoff starts at AT&T Park. The Giants have lost each of their first three postseason home games.

Lynn was tagged for four runs over 3 2/3 innings in his first playoff start for the Cardinals, who advanced to the NLCS with a dramatic ninth-inning comeback in Game 5 of the Division Series against Washington.

Five relievers combined to pitch 5 1/3 scoreless innings for the Giants, but their offense went dormant after their fourth-inning outburst. After Marco Scutaro singled to lead off the fifth, San Francisco was held without a hit until Angel Pagan singled in the ninth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tim Lincecum threw just 24 pitches over two scoreless innings in relief and could still start Game 4 in St. Louis. ….Beltran’s home run was his 14th in 29 career playoff games. He’s batting .409 (9-for-22) with three homers during this postseason.… The Giants have not received a quality start from their rotation through six playoff games.