The San Francisco Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3, on Thursday night, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 series lead and a chance to win the NLCS Friday night in St. Louis.

The game came down to hitting and, after a season in which the Giants were dominant at the plate, they could not find their bats Thursday, according to Grant Brisbee of SB Nation's San Francisco Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles.

The Giants recorded just six hits Thursday, as Adam Wainwright out-dueled Tim Lincecum on the mound. And even though there were plenty of issues with the Giants against the Cardinals, it was the lack of offense that stood out the most to Brisbee.

"The real story is the dastardly, villainous offense. After worrying we were going to watch this kind of offensive display all season, there was a reprieve. The offense was quite good for most of the year, especially in the last two months of the season. It was the starting pitching that was shaky. That was a little unexpected, sure, but everything was portioned out well enough to get the team to 94 wins.

And in the NLCS, the Giants couldn't hit."

The Giants and the Cardinals get right back at it Friday with an 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT opening pitch from Busch Stadium in St. Louis.