On Saturday, St. Louis continued the tradition of wild defense that has dominated the 2002 playoffs. In the bottom of the first, leadoff batter Kenny Lofton hit a grounder directly at shortstop Edgar Renteria. Rather than cleanly handling the play, Renteria bobbled the ball and Lofton was safe at first. However, that move looked smooth compared to the rest of the inning. Rich Aurilia sacrificed Lofton to second, Kent flied out, and Barry Bonds routinely walked. Benito Santiago then hit a broken bat grounder to Renteria, and Renteria threw to Fernando Vina to start the double play, but Vina wasn't at the bag. Consequently, Bonds was safe at second, and while Vina attempted to throw to first for at least one out, Santiago beat the throw. Luckily Reggie Sanders then hit a fly ball to shallow center for the third out, although Vina almost interfered with Jim Edmonds making a fantastic catch, grabbing the ball behind Vina's back.

J.T. Snow countered the Cardinals' poor defense with a spectacular play in the second, climbing the ladder to catch a Tino Martinez high line drive. Snow has displayed excellent defense throughout this series, making several outs that would have otherwise been hits. Unfortunately, St. Louis' defensive problems followed them to the second inning. San Francisco opened the inning with singles by Snow and David Bell. Starting pitcher Chuck Finley then failed to leave the mound to field a bunt by opposing pitcher Russ Ortiz, so a confused Tino Martinez attempted to field the ball near the third base line, but he bobbled it, allowing everyone to advance safely. The Cardinals managed to get out of the inning with only one run scoring, however on the third out, Vina pulled almost the same move he made at the end of the first. This time, instead of almost colliding with Edmonds, he narrowly avoided crashing into J.D. Drew, who was in the process of catching a shallow Bonds' pop-up in right.

Finley attempted to redeem his defensive shortcomings while batting in the third. Despite his recent arrival in the NL, he remembered to run on a dropped third strike; he was safe at first because he was swinging at a wild pitch and the ball made it past Santiago. With the two runs in the third, a solo homer by Mike Matheny in the fourth, and another by Jim Edmonds in the fifth, the Cardinals were leading 4-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. At that point, Barry Bonds hit a three-run dinger to tie the game. The homer splashed in McCovey Cove on the fly, marking the 23rd time in park history that has happened. Twenty-one of the splash hits belong to Bonds, while both of the other two were hit by Felipe Crespo.

Later in the fifth, third baseman Albert Pujols ran over Renteria while catching a foul hit by Reggie Sanders between third base and the stands. The bullpen took over for the Giants in the middle of the fifth, and Cardinals' relievers entered the game to start the sixth. Jay Witasick, pitching in the sixth, allowed Eli Marrero to hit a solo homer to put St. Louis ahead. While San Francisco didn't allow another baserunner for the remainder of the game, the Cardinal pen was able to prevent the Giants from scoring, and they won the game to prevent a sweep.

Throughout the broadcast, the cameras and conversation in the booth repeatedly turned to Kannon Kile, the son of deceased Cardinal Darryl Kile. Flynn Kyle, Kannon's mother and Daryle's widow, sent him to the St. Louis dugout to inspire the team. Afterwards, the Cardinals all credited their good luck charm.

The Minnesota and Anaheim game started slowly with both pitchers holding shutouts through the sixth. In the 4th inning, Luis Rivas and Dustan Mohr collided in the outfield; Torii Hunter almost joined the group, but he instead caught the Tim Salmon pop-up that led to the confusion.

Brad Radke left with two outs in the seventh after allowing the first two runs of the game. In that inning, Darin Erstad stole second and then took third when catcher A.J. Pierzynski's throw to second dribbled into the outfield, though we have to take points away from him for sliding headfirst into second.

Although John Lackey was only at 79 pitches through 7 IP, Anaheim sent in Francisco Rodriguez to pitch the eighth. Lackey allowed only three hits in his seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts. In the 8th, a flyball to center by Mientkiewicz caused some chaos in the Angels' outfield. Erstad, Alex Ochoa, and Adam Kennedy converged on the ball. Erstad dove for the ball and missed, pushing it into the ground with his back when he fell. I'm not sure whether Ochoa or Kennedy picked up the ball, but they had difficulty removing it from the ground, so Mientkiewicz was easily able to make it to second. However, Rodriguez tidily retired the next three batters, so the Twins didn't score.

Minnesota's bullpen fell apart in the eighth and ultimately allowed Anaheim to score an additional five runs. The inning began to go badly for the Twins when Johan Santana tossed a pick-off throw to first that slipped past Mientkiewicz. Erstad, the runner at first, dove back to the base with the throw, but when it got by Mientkiewicz, Erstad stood up and ran to second where he was safe without effort. Three relievers, three hits, and an intentional walk later, Mike Jackson allowed a triple to Ben Molina. Commentator Steve Lyons remarked that you "could time [Molina's triple] with a speed dial", though I believe he actually meant a sun dial.

Anaheim put in Ben Weber in the ninth, ostensibly to give the Twins a shot at making a comeback. However while Weber did allow one run to score, Minnesota couldn't overcome the lead the Angels compiled in the eighth, and what started out as a close game ended in a 7-1 victory for Anaheim.