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SAN FRANCISCO — At long last, Barry Bonds will get his chance. 

Kenny Lofton hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning that sent Bonds to his first World Series as the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 Monday night to win the NL championship series. 

Bonds did his part in Game 5, hitting a tying sacrifice fly in the eighth off a determined Matt Morris. And now, in his 17th season, baseball’s biggest star will finally get a chance to play on baseball’s biggest stage. 

The first all wild-card World Series will start Saturday night at Anaheim when the Angels take on the Giants. 

Bonds, often criticized for being selfish and not interacting with his teammates, led the sprint from the Giants’ dugout to congratulate Lofton. The four-time MVP was the first player off the bench to reach him. 

“We played great,” Bonds said. “We’ve got a tough series ahead of us. The Angels have been playing great in the clutch. It’s going to be down to the wire with them. 

“We’ve got some gusty guys out here, just like the Angels,” he said. “Who would’ve thought two wild-card teams would make it? That’s just amazing.” 

The Cardinals, playing on emotion since the death of Darryl Kile in June, once again could not get a big hit when it counted. 

In the ninth, Morris retired the first two batters before David Bell and Shawon Dunston singled.