ST. LOUIS — For the second straight time, the lefty generally acknowledged as the best pitcher in baseball was no match for a team that’s made a habit of coming alive this time of the year.

Matt Adams’ drive sent Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers packing.

While celebrating a 3-2 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday that put the franchise in the NL Championship Series for the fourth straight year, St. Louis Cardinals teammates bathed in champagne said they’d counted on the burly first baseman nicknamed Big City.

“We were jumping around, hitting our heads in the dugout, going crazy,” ace Adam Wainwright said. “I just had a feeling the big fellow was going to come through. I called it.”

Adams, a former Slippery Rock University baseball standout, could barely contain his enthusiasm after his first homer against a left-hander since July 7, this one against a pitcher who was 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA. Adams thrust both arms in the air while still in the batter’s box and added a couple of big hops that made for an entertaining trot around the bases.

“Definitely the highlight of my career,” he said. “I will never, ever forget this.”

The Cardinals have home-field advantage against the Giants plus a rested rotation for a best-of-seven NLCS that starts Saturday at Busch Stadium. San Francisco is in the NLCS for the third time in five seasons and overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Cardinals in 2012 en route to a World Series title.

“Just to be a part of all this is amazing,” said Shelby Miller, who made his first career postseason start and allowed two runs in 5 2-3 innings. “The way we came out and finished this game, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Before surrendering three straight hits and a two-run lead to open the seventh, Kershaw had shut down St. Louis. Stunned by Adams’ drive, he bent at the waist with his hands on his knees.

The Cardinals sent the Dodgers home for the second postseason in a row with a win over Kershaw. Last year it was in Game 6 of the NLCS.

Kershaw couldn’t hold a 6-1 lead in Game 1 of this series, also taking a beating in the seventh.

“The season ended and I was a big part of the reason why,” Kershaw said. “I can’t really put it into words, Just bad deja vu all over again.”

The Dodgers had two on in the ninth before Trevor Rosenthal earned his third save of the series, retiring Carl Crawford on a force out for the final out. At AT&T Park in San Francisco, fans cheered when the rival Dodgers were eliminated.

Kershaw dropped to 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 11 postseason games, including three relief appearances early in his career. He has lost four straight starts to St. Louis over the past two postseasons.

Giants 3, Nationals 2

SAN FRANCISCO — After their summer slide and a September stumble, the San Francisco Giants have that old October swagger back.

Every other year, it sure seems to work for manager Bruce Bochy’s boys.

Joe Panik scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Aaron Barrett’s bases-loaded wild pitch, and the Giants edged the Washington Nationals 3-2 Tuesday night to return to the NL Championship Series.

The wild-card Giants, with their cast of rookies and homegrown stars, won 3-1 in the best-of-five Division Series by also scoring on a walk and a groundout. Hunter Pence turned in a defensive gem in right field that helped hold the Nationals at bay as San Francisco won for the 11th time in its last 12 postseason games.

“It’s been a remarkable journey. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Pence said. “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be as fun.”

San Francisco travels to St. Louis for Game 1 on Saturday night. It’s a rematch of the 2012 NLCS, when the Giants rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals on the way to their second World Series championship in three years.

Santiago Casilla walked Bryce Harper with two outs in the ninth, then retired Wilson Ramos on a grounder to end it. Casilla was mobbed on the mound as fireworks shot off from the center-field scoreboard.

“I just talked about their will. These guys, they’re relentless,” Bochy said. “They were warriors on the road. We had to win at Pittsburgh, we got two in Washington.”

Harper splashed a tying home run into McCovey Cove in the seventh, but Washington’s season ended with three one-run losses, including that excruciating 2-1 defeat in 18 innings Saturday in Game 2.

The Nationals’ offense never got on track, lacking the power that carried them to an NL East title and the best record in the league at 96-66.

“It’s tender and it’s bitter and all of those things, but I’m proud of them,” rookie manager Matt Williams said.

Just like a night earlier when Giants ace Madison Bumgarner’s one miscue cost his team the game, Barrett blew it this time.

After his wild pitch snapped a 2-all tie, Barrett got set to intentionally walk Pablo Sandoval. But the right-hander sailed a toss way over the head of Ramos, who quickly retrieved the ball near the backstop. Ramos threw to Barrett covering the plate, where he tagged out a sliding Buster Posey.

The call was upheld after a replay review of 1 minute, 57 seconds, denying San Francisco an insurance run.

“It was just one of those weird plays where they ended up getting me,” Posey said.