SAN FRANCISCO -- Cardinals manager Tony La Russa brags about his bullpen all the time. He leaned too heavily on one of the middle men in Game 4 of the NL championship series.

Rick White gave up J.T. Snow's tying, two-run double in the sixth inning, then served up Benito Santiago's two-run homer in the eighth as the San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis 4-3 Sunday night to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

''He was so fresh,'' La Russa said. ''A game like today, he was fresh enough to go that far. Look at the outs he got.''

La Russa's pitching moves were questionable throughout Game 4. He allowed starter Andy Benes to hit with runners on first and third and the Cardinals leading 2-0 with two outs in the sixth -- Benes grounded out -- then removed Benes only one out later.

''I felt fine, I don't worry too much about that,'' Benes said. ''I just go as hard as I can until they take me out.''

Benes got the hook after issuing one-out walks to Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds, with Santiago coming up.

''He's probably the most dangerous hitter against Andy in that lineup,'' La Russa said. ''He'd walked him once and gave up a long fly, so to me that's time to get him.''

La Russa had Steve Kline ready to pitch to Bonds with two outs and none on in the eighth, but elected instead to intentionally walk the Giants' slugger and leave White in for one more batter.

Santiago made the Cardinals pay when he homered on a full count, but White doesn't think his long outing had anything to do with it.

''I just go out there until they take me out,'' White said. ''I just made a couple of bad pitches and they capitalized on it. I felt great, I didn't feel like I was getting tired.''

La Russa also had Dave Veres and Jeff Fassero warming up at various points, but never used them. Closer Jason Isringhausen was warming up in the ninth just in case.

''That's the way this game is,'' La Russa said. ''If the decisions don't work, somebody's going to say you should have done something different.''

White was one of the team's best finds in the regular season after he was picked up on waivers from Colorado, allowing only two earned runs in 20 innings. He had allowed one unearned run in 3 2/3 innings this postseason before Game 4.

''That's a good-hitting ballclub,'' White said. ''I left two pitches up and they did what they needed to with them.''

The bullpen has been one of the club's strengths in the playoffs, giving up three earned runs in 20 2/3 innings before Sunday. Four relievers, including White, combined for four scoreless innings in a 5-4 victory in Game 3 on Saturday.

The bullpen also was a major factor in the Cardinals' breakaway run to the NL Central championship, posting 34 consecutive scoreless innings from Aug. 31-Sept. 10. The team was 9-2 during that stretch.

Relief pitching was far from the only problem for the Cardinals in Game 4, though. St. Louis was 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, missing several opportunities to build on a 2-0 first-inning lead, leaving them 3-for-31 in the series.

''We left a lot of men on base,'' said cleanup hitter Albert Pujols, who stranded runners in scoring position the last two innings. ''Nothing you can do now. We'll forget about it and come back strong tomorrow.''

Fernando Vina failed to deliver with a runner on third and one out in the second, grounding out to a drawn-in infield. The Cardinals opened the third with singles by Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols, but J.D. Drew grounded into a double play and Eli Marrero flied out for the third out.

Edgar Renteria sacrificed Vina to second with one out in the seventh, and Edmonds and Pujols failed to deliver.

Robb Nen finished off the Cardinals when he struck out Pujols and Drew with runners on first and third in the ninth.

The Cardinals will try to avoid elimination and get the series back to St. Louis behind 17-game winner Matt Morris in Game 5 on Monday night.

''I would say the mood is still positive,'' White said. ''We've just got to win tomorrow and we get home-field advantage.''