SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — One day after the St. Louis Cardinals ended their postseason hopes with a late comeback, the San Francisco Giants returned the favor.

Andrew Knizner hit a go-ahead RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Giants beat the Cardinals 4-3 on Wednesday night at Oracle Park to eliminate St. Louis from playoff contention.

In a game that saw the lead change hands three times, Knizner’s line drive into the right-field corner scored Christian Koss to break a 3-3 tie and cap a back-and-forth contest between two teams finishing with identical 78-81 records.

The Giants struck first in the second inning. Casey Schmitt, who finished with three hits, doubled and scored when Jung Hoo Lee’s line-drive double to center field was misplayed by Victor Scott II for an error.

St. Louis answered immediately in the top of the third. Victor Scott II singled and scored on Brendan Donovan’s double. Donovan then came home on a line-drive single by Iván Herrera to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

The advantage was short-lived, as San Francisco’s Rafael Devers led off the bottom of the third by launching his 34th home run of the season deep to right field off Cardinals starter Sonny Gray.

The Giants tied the game in the fourth inning without a hit. Koss reached on an error by right fielder Jordan Walker, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Knizner’s sacrifice fly.

The game remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the eighth. After the Cardinals took the lead in the top of the inning on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly that scored Herrera, the Giants mounted their final rally in the bottom half against reliever Riley O’Brien (3-1).

Koss led off with a single and was bunted to second. Knizner then delivered his decisive triple, a sharp liner that got past Walker in right field.

José Buttó (5-3) earned the win after recording the final two outs of the top of the eighth. Tristan Beck pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save, inducing a game-ending double play from Jordan Walker after a leadoff single.

Gray was effective in a no-decision for St. Louis, allowing two earned runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out seven. Giants starter JT Brubaker gave up two runs on four hits in four innings. The San Francisco bullpen was stellar, with Carson Seymour, Buttó and Beck combining for five innings of one-run relief. Seymour was particularly dominant, striking out four over three perfect innings.

The Cardinals had won the first two games of the series in dramatic fashion but could not complete the sweep. The loss mathematically ended their faint playoff hopes. A crowd of 32,409 watched the game, which took 2 hours, 28 minutes.

The Giants avoided the sweep and ensured both teams would finish the season with matching losing records. San Francisco will open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday, while the Cardinals travel to face the Chicago Cubs.