The dropped catch came with two outs, nobody on base and St Louis leading 2-1 with closer Ryan Franklin pitching.
Four batters later pinch-hitter Mark Loretta blooped a single to shallow center-field that gave Los Angeles an unlikely victory and moved them within one win of advancing to the National League Championship Series.
"It's tough to swallow," Holliday told reporters gathered around his locker. "I mean, obviously, I just feel terrible.
"It wasn't from lack of effort. I just missed the ball.
"It hit my stomach. I mean I think I can catch a ball hit right at me."
Holliday, who hit a home run in the second inning for the Cardinals, had made just one error in 62 games for St Louis since coming over in a midseason trade with Oakland.
Playing deep against Loney to try to keep him from getting into scoring position with a double, Holliday charged forward toward the soft line drive and appeared to be comfortably in position to take the catch and end the game.
However at the last moment he changed his glove from fingers up to palm up and failed to get any of his glove on it, with the ball hitting his stomach and bouncing away.
Loney advanced to second base on the error and was replaced by pinch runner Juan Pierre, who then scored the tying run on Ron Belliard's single.
"All of a sudden, we got a break," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "(It) Looked like the ball got in the lights on Matt in left field.
"It's a break ... being on second base puts an enormous amount of pressure on Franklin, because all it takes is just a single to score a run."
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said the only consolation was that the series was not over, though the win gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead with the best-of-five shifting to St Louis on Saturday.
"We have another opportunity. It was a tough loss, very tough loss. Very disappointing," he said.
"But we're not discouraged. There's a big difference in the two. We can win a game, so we have to wait until Saturday.
"But right now I think it's important to get upset about the game that got away. We did a lot to win that one and didn't win it. Turn the page too quickly, means you don't care."
(Writing by Larry Fine in New York, editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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