SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — In a wild back-and-forth affair that defied pregame projections, the St. Louis Cardinals outlasted the San Francisco Giants 9-8 on Tuesday night at Oracle Park, clinching the series victory in a game that featured 26 hits and a dramatic late-inning power surge.

The Cardinals, who improved to 78-80, jumped on Giants ace Logan Webb immediately, batting around and plating three runs in the first inning. Brendan Donovan set the tone with a leadoff double and later scored on Alec Burleson’s single. Two more runs came across on a double play and an RBI single from Thomas Saggese.

Webb settled in after the rocky start, holding the Cardinals scoreless over the next five innings to keep his team in the game. His effort allowed the Giants’ offense to mount a comeback.

San Francisco erupted for five runs in the third inning to take the lead, capitalizing on a costly error by Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado. With two on, Heliot Ramos hit a grounder to Arenado, whose throwing error allowed two runs to score. Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee followed with run-scoring singles, and Matt Chapman added a sacrifice fly to give the Giants a 5-3 advantage.

The Giants extended their lead to 7-3 with two runs in the fifth inning on back-to-back RBI doubles from Patrick Bailey and Christian Koss. Ramos then added a solo home run, his 20th of the season, in the sixth inning to make it 8-3.

The game turned decisively in the top of the seventh. After a leadoff double from Jordan Walker and a walk to Victor Scott II, designated hitter Iván Herrera connected for a three-run homer to center field off reliever Ryan Walker, cutting the deficit to 8-6. Two batters later, Arenado atoned for his earlier error by launching a solo shot to left field, pulling the Cardinals within a run.

St. Louis completed the comeback in the ninth inning against Walker, the losing pitcher who fell to 5-7. Scott II singled, and Donovan delivered his fourth hit of the night, an RBI double to tie the game. After a groundout advanced pinch-runner José Fermín to third, Burleson singled him home to give the Cardinals a 9-8 lead.

Matt Svanson earned the win for St. Louis, pitching a scoreless eighth inning to improve to 4-0. Closer Riley O’Brien worked a tense ninth for his sixth save, striking out Matt Chapman and Wilmer Flores with the potential tying run on second base to end the game.

The final score of 17 combined runs sailed over the pregame over/under line of 7.5, and the result was an upset according to Interstat’s ELO system, which had given the Giants a 56.3% probability to win.

The victory gives St. Louis its second straight win in the series after a 6-5 victory on Monday. The two teams conclude their three-game set on Wednesday. The Cardinals will then travel to Chicago for a three-game series against the Cubs, while the Giants will host the Colorado Rockies for three games to close the regular season.