San Francisco ? The St. Louis Cardinals held the San Francisco Giants at bay barely.

Three St. Louis homers that just cleared the wall behind Barry Bonds in left field overcame his own prodigious shot into McCovey Cove and gave the Cardinals a 5-4 victory Saturday that cut San Francisco’s lead to 2-1 in the NL championship series.

“I know we had to win today to make it a series,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “If you go down 3-0, it would be really tough to come back. With a win, we made it a competitive series. But they’re still in charge.”

Mike Matheny and Jim Edmonds hit solo homers that helped St. Louis shake off some early jitters and take a 4-1 lead. Eli Marrero then connected for a tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning in St. Louis’ first at-bat after Bonds’ blast.

“It changes the mood in the dugout,” Bonds said of his homer. “It gets everybody fired up. But then they came back and took the lead.”

The Cardinals preserved the narrow lead with clutch relief, getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh. Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for the save, pitching around a one-out walk to Bonds.

After losing the first two games at home, the Cardinals avoided falling into a 3-0 hole that no team in baseball has ever overcome.

“We knew we had to turn it around in a hurry,” Matheny said.

Game 4 is tonight, with San Francisco’s Livan Hernandez pitching against Andy Benes.

The Cardinals got inspiration from 5-year-old Kannon Kile, the son of late pitcher Darryl Kile, who died June 22. Kannon received a standing ovation as he was introduced with the St. Louis players before the game, doffing his cap as he sucked on a lollipop, and watched the game from the dugout, encouraging his dad’s former teammates.

After the final out, Kile hopped around on the field giving low-fives to the players before sliding into home in his clean, white uniform, the victory secured.

St. Louis' Eli Marrero accepts congratulations after swatting a tie-breaking home run. The Cardinals defeated the Giants, 5-4, Saturday in San Francisco, but the Giants still lead the NL championship series, two games to one.

There was also a high-flying air show by the Blue Angels, who soared above the ballpark in their F/A-18 Hornets, leaving vapor trails as the players stopped and watched at one point.

But the game provided more than enough entertainment for an energetic sellout crowd of 42,177 at Pacific Bell Park.

The most exciting moment came when Bonds walked to the plate with two runners on and the Giants trailing 4-1 in the fifth inning.

After taking a first-pitch ball from winning pitcher Chuck Finley, Bonds connected with his maple bat, hitting a drive to right field. He tossed his bat aside and raised his arms to the sky as the ball sailed into San Francisco Bay for the first splash homer in postseason history.

“From where I was I thought it was a pretty good pitch and he hits it into the bay,” La Russa said. “That shows how incredible Bonds is.”

The ball was quickly scooped up by a fan in a small boat with a net as Bonds rounded the bases and kissed his son as he crossed home plate.

Bonds’ fourth postseason homer this year and fifth of his career caught nearly everyone’s attention. Some of the Minnesota Twins watched the at-bat as they took batting practice down the coast in Anaheim before Game 4 of the ALCS.

The homer was just the second Finley had allowed to a lefty in his past 62 starts. But then again, Bonds is no normal lefty.

After Marrero’s homer down the left-field line off losing pitcher Jay Witasick gave the Cardinals the lead, they didn’t let Bonds beat them his next time up, walking him intentionally with a runner on second, putting the go-ahead run on base. The move prompted the chicken dance to be shown on the center-field scoreboard.