The D-backs have picked up closer J.J. Putz’s $6.5 million option for 2013. The right-hander has converted 77 of 86 save opportunities over the past two years.

With the AL champion Tigers lying in wait, the Giants made a resounding statement in St. Louis on Friday night in Game 5 of the NLCS.

The San Francisco Giants got what they wanted. They are heading home — and not to clean out their lockers. They’ll be back in action at AT&T Park in Game 6 on Sunday, with Ryan Vogelsong taking the ball opposite St. Louis righty Chris Carpenter.

Brandon Crawford’s two-run single was the pivotal moment of the Giants’ staying-alive 5-0 win over St. Louis in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Friday night at Busch Stadium.

If ever there was a tale of redemption, Barry Zito told it on the mound for the Giants on Friday night.

Ryan Vogelsong, author of the National League Championship Series Game 2 outstanding start, will get another one in Game 6 for the Giants, who clearly did not leave their heart in San Francisco. It was beating in their chest Friday night, in the 5-0 win over the Cardinals that sent the NLCS back to the Bay Area.

Barry Zito was doing his best work of the season, perhaps the best of his six San Francisco seasons. He is not a blow-away fireballer, however, but a contact pitcher who relies on the leather surrounding him.

Needing three straight wins to keep their season alive, San Francisco scored four unearned runs in the top of the fourth, giving starter Barry Zito all the support he’d need.

Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval has been playing in pain for most the season, so when he fouled the ball off the top of his right foot in the first inning at Busch Stadium on Friday night, it was more of the same.

Maybe these Giants do have some special aura. Maybe they are just lucky. Or, as Hunter Pence put it, “Maybe we are procrastinators.” There is no maybe about the fact that so far these Giants have shown an impressive ability to survive in the regular season, the NL Division Series and now the NLCS.

An exultant Brian Wilson tested his arm for the first time since undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery in April by playing catch Friday.

The Rangers, looking for a way to improve their offense in general and their situational hitting in particular, have dismissed hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh and hired Dave Magadan away from the Boston Red Sox.

The Giants would first have to get there, obviously. But manager Bruce Bochy has indicated that Game 4 starter Tim Lincecum would be able to bounce back in time to resume his relief chores if there is a Game 6 in the NLCS.

The Giants relied on a four-run fourth inning and Barry Zito’s masterly 7 2/3-inning effort to stun the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0, in Friday’s Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

Lance Lynn tossed three hitless innings and struck out six before his throwing error ignited a four-run fourth inning, and the offense was shut down by Barry Zito, 5-0, on Friday, sending the NLCS back to San Francisco for Game 6.

Chris Carpenter gets the opportunity to erase his Game 2 start and build on his exemplary playoff record as he goes for his fourth career win in a playoff clincher when the Cards and Giants meet in Game 6.

In the fourth inning Friday night, with runners on first and second with one out, Lance Lynn gloved Hunter Pence’s grounder, wheeled toward second base and threw away the Cardinals’ dream of winning their 19th National League pennant at home.