SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — In a game that encapsulated the frustrations of their season, the St. Louis Cardinals saw their playoff hopes extinguished Wednesday night at Oracle Park.

Andrew Knizner’s RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a tie and propelled the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 victory, a measure of revenge that eliminated the Cardinals from postseason contention one day after St. Louis had done the same to the Giants.

The loss dropped both teams to identical 78-81 records, ensuring that neither would finish the 2025 campaign with a winning season. For the Cardinals, the defeat marked a bitter end to a late-season push that had kept their slim hopes alive until the final week.

A crowd of 32,409 watched the two-hour, 28-minute contest, which saw the Giants avoid a series sweep with a late rally, mirroring the Cardinals’ comeback a night earlier.

The game was a tight, back-and-forth affair. San Francisco struck first in the bottom of the second inning against Cardinals starter Sonny Gray. Casey Schmitt doubled and scored when Jung Hoo Lee laced a double to center field that was misplayed by Victor Scott II for an error.

St. Louis responded immediately in the top of the third. After two quick outs, Victor Scott II singled and Brendan Donovan drove him in with a double. Iván Herrera followed with a line-drive single to left, scoring Donovan to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

The advantage was short-lived. In the bottom half of the inning, Giants designated hitter Rafael Devers led off by crushing his 34th home run of the season deep to right field, tying the game and energizing the home crowd.

San Francisco pulled even again in the fourth, taking advantage of a St. Louis miscue. Christian Koss reached second base on a fielding error by right fielder Jordan Walker, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Knizner, knotting the score at 3-3.

The game then settled into a pitcher’s duel. Gray, the Cardinals’ veteran right-hander, delivered a quality start, pitching six innings and allowing three runs, only two of which were earned, on seven hits while striking out seven. He was matched by a committee effort from the Giants’ bullpen after starter JT Brubaker allowed two runs on four hits over four innings.

The stalemate was broken in the eighth. With reliever Riley O’Brien on the mound for St. Louis, Koss led off with a single and was bunted over to second base. Knizner then delivered the decisive blow, lining a triple into the right-field corner to score Koss and give the Giants a 4-3 lead.

St. Louis had briefly taken the lead in the top of the inning. Herrera singled and Alec Burleson doubled, putting runners on second and third with one out. Nolan Arenado then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Herrera for a 3-2 lead, but the Cardinals could not add to the margin, leaving the door open for San Francisco’s comeback.

The Giants’ bullpen was stellar in preserving the win. Carson Seymour was particularly dominant, retiring all nine batters he faced over the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, striking out four. José Buttó earned the win for recording the final two outs of the eighth inning, improving to 5-3. Tristan Beck pitched a scoreless ninth, working around a leadoff single, to secure his second save of the season.

O’Brien took the loss for St. Louis, falling to 3-1 on the year.

Offensively, the Giants out-hit the Cardinals 11-7. Schmitt led the way for San Francisco with three hits, while Knizner drove in two runs, including the game-winner.

The result concluded a dramatic three-game set between the teams. St. Louis had won the first two games in come-from-behind fashion, including a 9-8 victory on Tuesday that eliminated the Giants. The script was flipped in the finale, with San Francisco delivering the final, season-ending blow.

Both teams now head into their final series of the season playing for pride. The Cardinals will travel to Chicago for a three-game series against the Cubs beginning Friday, while the Giants will host the Colorado Rockies for three games starting the same day. The loss ensures the Cardinals will finish with a losing record for the second consecutive season, a disappointing outcome for a franchise with postseason aspirations.