SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Marco Scutaro stayed steady behind second base, absorbing Matt Holliday’s hard takeout slide and tossing the ball to first for a possible double play.

As Scutaro squirmed in the infield, twisting in pain, fans at AT&T Park showered Holliday with boos. Giants players watched and worried, fearing the worst for a fallen teammate. Manager Bruce Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner ran out of the dugout to attend to Scutaro, who finally dusted off the dirt and stood up strongly.

And just like that, so did San Francisco’s offense.

Scutaro singled in two runs during a four-run fourth inning before leaving with a hip injury, sparking San Francisco’s first home win this postseason, 7-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night to tie the NL championship series at one game apiece.

“We felt for him,” center fielder Angel Pagan said. “We felt a little bit of anger.”

All those feelings came crashing down on the Cardinals in a hurry.

Scutaro left after the fifth because of a left hip he injured on a play Giants manager Bruce Bochy felt was illegal. X-rays were negative, and Scutaro likely will get an MRI exam on Tuesday. There was no word on his status, but closer Sergio Romo said when Scutaro left, the second baseman “had a little smile on his face that he’d be back. Definitely not really worried right now.”

“In my opinion,” right fielder Hunter Pence said, “it pumped us up a little bit.”

The series now shifts to St. Louis for three games, starting Wednesday when San Francisco ace Matt Cain takes on Kyle Lohse of the Cardinals, and the Giants are already rallying behind the slide against Scutaro.

There was plenty to cheer all night for Giants supporters.

Ryan Vogelsong pitched seven strong innings, Pagan hit a leadoff homer to give San Francisco its first home lead this postseason and Scutaro stayed in until breaking the game open with his single off Chris Carpenter.

“That shows you how tough he is,” Bochy said. “I really think they got away with an illegal slide there. That rule was changed a while back. And he really didn’t hit dirt until he was past the bag. Marco was behind the bag and got smoked. It’s a shame somebody got hurt because of this. That’s more of a roadblock.”

Making Scutaro’s hit even sweeter for the Giants was the fact that Holliday misplayed the ball in left field, allowing a third run to score on the error and Scutaro to advance to second.

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