LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matt Holliday and pinch-hitter Shane Robinson connected for the first home runs of the NL championship series, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Tuesday night to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven playoff.

In a series starved for offense, the Cardinals scored as many runs as they did in the first three games combined, when the teams totaled nine runs.

Hitless in his previous 22 at-bats at Dodger Stadium, Holliday sent a two-run shot off Ricky Nolasco an estimated 426 feet into left field, capping a three-run third that gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Game 5 is Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, with the Cardinals one win from the World Series. Zack Greinke is set to start for the Dodgers against Joe Kelly.

Matt Carpenter had an RBI double in the third that scored David Descalso, who hit a leadoff single. Carpenter came around on Holliday’s homer after there were none in the first three games for the first time in NLCS history.

Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, playing with a broken left rib, left in the middle of the sixth after striking out three times.

Red Sox 1, Tigers 0

DETROIT (AP) — John Lackey edged Justin Verlander in the latest duel of these pitching-rich playoffs, and Boston’s bullpen shut down Detroit’s big boppers with the game on the line to lift the Red Sox over the Tigers 1-0 Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in the AL championship series.

Mike Napoli homered off Verlander in the seventh inning, and Detroit’s best chance to rally fell short in the eighth when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder struck out with runners at the corners.

Despite three straight gems by their starters, the Tigers suddenly trail in a best-of-seven series they seemed to have complete control of only two days ago. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Comerica Park, with Jake Peavy scheduled to start for the Red Sox against Doug Fister.

Lackey allowed four hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out eight without a walk in a game that was delayed 17 minutes in the second inning because lights on the stadium towers went out.

It was the second 1-0 game in this matchup between the highest-scoring teams in the majors. That’s been the theme throughout these playoffs, which have included four 1-0 scores and seven shutouts in the first 26 games.

After rallying from a five-run deficit to even the series in Game 2, Boston came away with a win in Detroit against one of the game’s best pitchers. The Tigers had a chance for their own comeback in the eighth when Austin Jackson drew a one-out walk and Torii Hunter followed with a single.

But Cabrera, who failed to reach base for the first time in 32 postseason games for the Tigers, never looked comfortable against Junichi Tazawa, swinging and missing at the first two offerings and eventually chasing an outside pitch for strike three.

Fielder was even more overmatched against Koji Uehara, striking out on three pitches.

Uehara also pitched the ninth for a save, ensuring that Lackey’s fine performance wouldn’t go to waste.

Lackey pitched poorly his first two seasons in Boston after signing an $82.5 million, five-year contract in December 2009. Then he missed all of 2012 following elbow ligament-replacement surgery.

He’s been better this season, and he kept the Tigers off balance Tuesday by effectively changing speeds.

Napoli’s first at-bat in the majors was against Verlander on May 4, 2006, at Detroit’s Comerica Park. He homered then, too.

This hit was far more important. In the last two games, the Tigers have started Verlander and 21-game winner Max Scherzer — and the Red Sox won both.