Matt Holliday blasted a 403-foot homer and Shane Robinson hit a pinch-hit solo shot as the St Louis Cardinals beat Los Angeles 4-2 on Tuesday in game four of the NLCS.
Holliday's monster shot into left field in the third inning was the first home run of the series for the Cardinals who now lead 3-1 as they try to reach their second World Series in three years.
The National League Central Division champion Cardinals can advance with a victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.
Holliday's homer scored Matt Carpenter to make it 3-0 in front of a crowd of 53,992 at Dodger Stadium. It followed Carpenter's double earlier in the inning that plated Daniel Descalso to open the scoring.
St. Louis picked an opportune time to break out of their home run slump as they batted an anemic .134 through the first three games of the series.
Holliday was two-of-four with two RBIs for the Cardinals who finished with six hits in the contest.
The winner of this series will play the winner of the other Major League Baseball semi-final between Boston and Detroit. Boston edged the Tigers 1-0 earlier Tuesday to take a 2-1 series lead.
Yasiel Puig got the Dodgers on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth off Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn.
Later in the Dodgers' half of the fourth, Mark Ellis singled to centre field to score Andre Ethier and cut the Cardinals lead to 3-2.
Cuban rookie Puig clubbed his single up the middle after being brushed back by a Lynn pitch during the same at bat.
The brush back was in retaliation for Puig's over-the-top celebration after hitting a triple the night before against St. Louis.
This time there was no celebration as Puig stopped at first base. Puig was terrific on Tuesday as he finished two-of-three at the plate with one RBI and one walk.
