Marco Scutaro hip X-rays negative

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SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro left Game 2 of the NL Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night after five innings because of an injured left hip, the result of an earlier hard slide by Matt Holliday.

X-rays were negative, and he'll likely get an MRI on Tuesday. There was no word on his future status.

"That shows you how tough he is," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "I really think they got away with an illegal slide there. That rule was changed a while back. And he really didn't hit dirt until he was past the bag. Marco was behind the bag and got smoked. It's a shame somebody got hurt because of this. That's more of a roadblock."

Holliday singled in the first inning for the Cardinals and then barreled into Scutaro while breaking up a double play on Allen Craig's grounder. Scutaro went down awkwardly on the play.

Athletic trainer Dave Groeschner and Bochy hustled out to check on Scutaro, who got up and stayed in the game for four more innings.

"In hindsight, I wish I would have started the slide a little earlier, but it happened so fast," Holliday said. "I hope he's OK, he's a good guy. I was more interested in breaking up the double play."

Said Cardinals second baseman Daniel Descalso: "A lot of guys take pride in breaking up double plays. Holliday is one of them. On slowly hit balls you're going to get hit. You don't want anyone to get hurt, but I'm all for playing the game hard."

Scutaro, who was replaced in the top of the sixth by Ryan Theriot, singled in the first and hit a two-run single in the fourth. Making Scutaro's fourth-inning hit even sweeter for the Giants was the fact that Holliday misplayed the ball in left field, allowing a third run to score on the error.

"There's baseball gods. There's definitely baseball gods," former Giants first baseman Will Clark said. "There's a reason why he hits a (single) and Holliday boots the ball he hit. Baseball gods shine in weird ways."

With Scutaro out, the Giants went on to win 7-1 and even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

"It just kind of pumps you up," Giants outfielder Hunter Pence said. "When you see one of your guys go down, you always want to win the game, but it's like, 'Let's go. Let's put it on the scoreboard.'"

The series now shifts to St. Louis for three games, starting with Game 3 on Wednesday when San Francisco ace Matt Cain takes on Kyle Lohse of the Cardinals.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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