The Phillies fought back on Shane Victorino's RBI single in the fourth, and Ryan Howard put Philadelphia ahead with a second-deck three-run shot in the sixth.
After Hunter Pence hit into a force out at home, Howard's sacrifice fly followed by RBI singles by Victorino and Ibañez made it 9–3 Phillies.
In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals scored three runs on Adron Chambers' RBI single and Skip Schumaker's two-run double off reliever Michael Stutes, but closer Ryan Madson struck out Jon Jay and Matt Holliday to seal the win for the Phillies.
With Cliff Lee on the mound, who was 7–2 in the postseason and 3–0 in the League Division Series, and Chris Carpenter, who pitched on three days' rest, was out after three innings, things did not look good for the Cardinals.
However, the offense started to do their work in the fourth, when Ryan Theriot, Jon Jay, and Rafael Furcal each knocked in one run for the Cardinals.
After six scoreless innings from both starting pitchers, the Phillies sent Ben Francisco to pinch-hit for Cole Hamels, following an intentional walk to Carlos Ruiz, and a single by Shane Victorino.
Francisco homered off the second pitch from Jaime García 405 feet (123 m) over the left center wall to give the Phillies a 3–0 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals were able to load the bases with one out, thanks to singles by Ryan Theriot, pinch hitter Matt Holliday, and Rafael Furcal.
The Cards took the lead on David Freese's two-run double in the fourth, scoring Berkman and Matt Holliday to make it 3–2, Cardinals.
In the fifth inning, the Rally Squirrel again appeared, crossing home plate as Oswalt was delivering a pitch to Skip Schumaker.
Center fielder Jon Jay made a sliding catch of a line drive by former Cardinal Plácido Polanco for the final out.
The TV camera focused on the right field stands, but would move down to show Lance Berkman making the catch at the warning track.
The Diamondbacks threatened in the 1st inning, where Willie Bloomquist was thrown out at home by Ryan Braun on a potential RBI single by Justin Upton.
The same thing happened for Fielder, who hit the second pitch he saw from Kennedy out for a 2-run homer, giving the Brewers a comfortable 4–0 lead.
The Brewers started Game 2 on a high note with Ryan Braun hitting a two-run homer in the first inning off of Daniel Hudson, but starter Zack Greinke, pitching on three days' rest, allowed a leadoff home run to Paul Goldschmidt in the second; In the third, Braun doubled with two outs, then scored on Prince Fielder's single before Fielder scored on Rickie Weeks's triple.
Backed up by the offense, starter Josh Collmenter hurled seven innings, allowing two hits, one earned run, and two walks while striking out six.
But the D-backs fought back in the bottom half on Ryan Roberts' grand slam and Chris Young's solo homer.
Both starters were ineffective as each pitched only three innings, but the two homers allowed by Randy Wolf made the most difference, putting the Brewers into an early 7–3 hole.
The Diamondbacks struck first with Justin Upton's solo home run in the top of the third inning, but the Brewers immediately tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a Jerry Hairston Jr. sacrifice fly scoring Nyjer Morgan.
In the top of the ninth John Axford came in on a save situation, but blew it when Willie Bloomquist hit an RBI bunt single scoring Gerardo Parra.
It was the Brewers' first playoff series win since beating the California Angels 3–2 in the 1982 ALCS, and also made the NLCS for the first time, having moved to the National League in 1998.