ST. LOUIS (AP) — For the second straight time, the lefty generally acknowledged as the best pitcher in baseball was no match for a team that’s made a habit of coming alive this time of the year.

Matt Adams’ drive sent Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers packing.

While celebrating a 3-2 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday that put the franchise in the NL Championship Series for the fourth straight year, St. Louis Cardinals teammates bathed in champagne said they’d counted on the burly first baseman nicknamed Big City.

“We were jumping around, hitting our heads in the dugout, going crazy,” ace Adam Wainwright said. “I just had a feeling the big fellow was going to come through. I called it.”

Adams could barely contain his enthusiasm after his first homer against a left-hander since July 7, this one against a pitcher who was 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA. Adams thrust both arms in the air while still in the batter’s box and added a couple of big hops that made for an entertaining trot around the bases.

“Definitely the highlight of my career,” he said. “I will never, ever forget this.”

The Cardinals have home-field advantage against the Giants plus a rested rotation for a best-of-seven NLCS that starts Saturday at Busch Stadium.

Before surrendering three straight hits and a two-run lead to open the seventh, Kershaw had shut down St. Louis. Stunned by Adams’ drive, he bent at the waist with his hands on his knees.

The Cardinals sent the Dodgers home for the second postseason in a row with a win over Kershaw. Last year it was in Game 6 of the NLCS.

Kershaw couldn’t hold a 6-1 lead in Game 1 of this series, also taking a beating in the seventh.

“The season ended and I was a big part of the reason why,” Kershaw said. “I can’t really put it into words, Just bad deja vu all over again.”

The Dodgers had two on in the ninth before Trevor Rosenthal earned his third save of the series, retiring Carl Crawford on a force out for the final out. At AT&T Park in San Francisco, fans cheered when the rival Dodgers were eliminated.

Kershaw dropped to 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 11 postseason games, including three relief appearances early in his career. He has lost four straight starts to St. Louis over the past two postseasons.

While the steady Cardinals advanced to their ninth NLCS in 15 years, the defeat was a huge disappointment for the NL West champion Dodgers, who finished the regular season with a $256 million payroll that was $40 million higher than any other team.

Los Angeles remains without a pennant since winning the 1988 World Series.

Kershaw allowed one homer to left-handed batters in the regular season but gave up two to the Cardinals, with Matt Carpenter connecting in the opener. He’s 0-3 with a 9.72 ERA in his last three postseason appearances, all against St. Louis.

Reliever Marco Gonzales earned his second victory of the series, after getting treated for a nosebleed. The rookie lefty got Adrian Gonzalez on a groundout to end the seventh and strand two runners.

The Cardinals had an NL-low 105 homers this season and left-hander batters had only eight homers against lefty pitching. But lefties hit five off Dodgers southpaws in four playoff games.

The Dodgers took the lead in the sixth with two hits and a double-play groundout, and made it 2-0 on Juan Uribe’s single off Seth Maness. They missed a chance to add on when catcher Yadier Molina quickly recovered a pitch in the dirt and picked off Andre Ethier at third.

Giants 3, Nationals 2

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After their summer slide and a September stumble, the San Francisco Giants have that old October swagger back.

Every other year, it sure seems to work for manager Bruce Bochy’s boys.

Joe Panik scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Aaron Barrett’s basesloaded wild pitch, and the Giants edged the Washington Nationals Tuesday night to return to the NL Championship Series.

The wild-card Giants, with their cast of rookies and homegrown stars, won 3-1 in the best-of-five Division Series by also scoring on a walk and a groundout. Hunter Pence turned in a defensive gem in right field that helped hold the Nationals at bay as San Francisco won for the 11th time in its last 12 postseason games.

“It’s been a remarkable journey. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Pence said. “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be as fun.”

San Francisco travels to St. Louis for Game 1 on Saturday night. It’s a rematch of the 2012 NLCS, when the Giants rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals on the way to their second World Series championship in three years.

Santiago Casilla walked Bryce Harper with two outs in the ninth, then retired Wilson Ramos on a grounder to end it. Casilla was mobbed on the mound as fireworks shot off from the center-field scoreboard.

Harper splashed a tying home run into McCovey Cove in the seventh, but Washington’s season ended with three one-run losses, including that excruciating 2-1 defeat in 18 innings Saturday in Game 2.

The Nationals’ offense never got on track, lacking the power that carried them to an NL East title and the best record in the league at 96-66.

Just like a night earlier when Giants ace Madison Bumgarner’s one miscue cost his team the game, Barrett blew it this time.

After his wild pitch snapped a 2-all tie, Barrett got set to intentionally walk Pablo Sandoval. But the right-hander sailed a toss way over the head of Ramos, who quickly retrieved the ball near the backstop. Ramos threw to Barrett covering the plate, where he tagged out a sliding Buster Posey.

The call was upheld after a replay review of 1 minute, 57 seconds, denying San Francisco an insurance run.

Pence produced the play of the night when he slammed his back into an archway on the right-field wall to rob Jayson Werth of extra bases in the sixth. Fans enjoying the game from the outside portwalk witnessed the grab from just behind Pence and broke into frenzied cheers.

Hunter Strickland, the rookie reliever who gave up Harper’s solo home run to the third deck in the seventh inning of Game 1 and then later said he would challenge the young slugger again if given the chance, got his opportunity Tuesday and paid for it.

Harper crushed a 3-1 pitch from Strickland and appeared to give the pitcher a look as he rounded the bases. Harper celebrated in the dugout and shouted out toward the field