SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Once the Giants finally got a bunt down, the rest was easy.

A wild throw by reliever Randy Choate on a bunt allowed Brandon Crawford to score the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in the NL Championship Series.

Crawford drew an eightpitch walk from Choate to begin the inning, ending a stretch of 16 straight Giants retired since Tim Hudson’s two-out single in the fourth. After failing on two sacrifice attempts, Juan Perez singled to bring up Gregor Blanco.

Blanco fouled off a bunt try, too, but then pushed one to the left side of the mound and the left-handed Choate’s sidearmed throw sailed past lunging second baseman Kolten Wong, who was covering first base.

Randal Grichuk tied it with a solo homer in the seventh that chased Hudson.

Game 4 in the best-ofseven series is tonight, with Ryan Vogelsong pitching for the Giants against fellow righty Shelby Miller.

This walkoff win came 12 years to the day after Kenny Lofton’s single in the ninth inning ended the 2002 NLCS against the Cardinals and sent the Giants to the World Series.

Playing without injured catcher Yadier Molina, the Cardinals had their chances. They squandered Wong’s double in the second before he delivered a wind-aided, two-run triple in the fourth.

Javier Lopez got the first two outs of the 10th before Jon Jay’s single, just the third hit by a left-handed batter against Lopez since he joined San Francisco in 2010. Two of those are by Jay this series.

Sergio Romo entered and retired Matt Holliday on a full-count grounder to third that Pablo Sandoval snared and fired to first.

A.J. Pierzynski went hitless in four at-bats.