Final, Cardinals 4-2: Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side on 11 pitches in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals have tied the World Series at a game apiece with a 4-2 win in Game 2.
The Red Sox grabbed a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning when David Ortiz smacked a two-run homer into the Monster seats off Cardinals starter Michael Wacha. Things unraveled for Boston in the seventh inning, though, as St. Louis scored three runs to regain control of Game 2.
John Lackey started the seventh inning, and surrendered a walk to David Freese and a single to Jon Jay. That’s when John Farrell turned to his bullpen and called upon Craig Breslow.
Pete Kozma, who pinch ran for Freese, and Jay executed a double steal after Breslow took over. Daniel Descalso then laid off a 3-2 pitch near the inside corner to work a walk and load the bases for Matt Carpenter.
Carpenter hit a fly ball to left field that Jonny Gomes grabbed. Gomes came up firing to the plate, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia dropped his throw. Carpenter likely would have been safe anyway, but the drop opened the door for bigger things. Jay, who had been on second base, went racing toward third, and Breslow made an errant throw. That allowed Jay to cross the plate with the go-ahead run, and Beltran added a run with an RBI single.
Wacha was very good with the exception of the sixth inning. He gave up two runs on three hits while striking out six and walking four. Lackey gave up three runs on five hits while striking out six and walking two.
The series now shifts to St. Louis for three games, with Game 3 taking place Saturday. This series just got a whole lot more interesting.
Good night, everyone.
Mid 9th, Cardinals 4-2: Koji Uehara tossed a scoreless ninth inning to keep the deficit at two runs.
Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter went down in order.
Jonny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stephen Drew are due up against Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal in the bottom of the ninth.
End 8th, Cardinals 4-2: Mike Matheny showed a lot of confidence in Carlos Martinez in the eighth inning.
Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a chopper over the mound. Matt Carpenter charged it, but couldn’t make the play, and Ellsbury reached safely at first base.
Martinez rebounded to strike out Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia. At that point, it was reasonable to think that Matheny would turn to one of his left-handers with David Ortiz coming up. In fact, even Ortiz thought Matheny would call upon a lefty, as he didn’t move from the on-deck circle.
Matheny stuck with Martinez, though, and the righty at least kept Ortiz in the yard. Ortiz hit a ground ball to the right side of second base. Carpenter made a diving stop, but he had no chance of throwing anyone out.
Mike Napoli popped out with runners on first and second to end the inning.
Mid 8th, Cardinals 4-2: Brandon Workman tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
Allen Craig singled with two down, but Workman continues to show why the Red Sox have confidence in the rookie right-hander.
Matt Adams and Yadier Molina flied out to left field and center field, respectively, before Craig’s two-out knock. Pete Kozma ended the inning with a popout to second base.
End 7th, Cardinals 4-2: The Cardinals turned to hard-throwing right-hander Carlos Martinez in the seventh inning after six innings from Michael Wacha.
Martinez retired the bottom of the Red Sox’ order rather easily.
Stephen Drew hit a comebacker with one out, and it deflected off Martinez’s glove. Pete Kozma, who just entered the game, made a very nice play off the ricochet to record the out at first base.
Kozma also took care of Xander Bogaerts to end the inning.
Mid 7th, Cardinals 4-2:Â The Cardinals capitalized on two errors by the Red Sox after Craig Breslow came in to relieve John Lackey of his pitching duties.
Lackey struck Allen Craig out looking, then walked David Freese — who was replaced by pinch runner Pete Kozma. Jon Jay singled into right field.
That’s when Breslow came in for what the Red Sox thought was going to be some relief. It didn’t quite work out that way, as Breslow walked Daniel Descalso after Kozma and Jay moved up via a double steal.
Matt Carpenter swung at the first pitch Breslow threw him and hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Jonny Gomes came up firing to the plate, and Kozma would have been safe anyway, but the throw kicked off Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s mitt. Breslow tracked it down and fired an errant throw to third base that allowed Jay to also score.
Carlos Beltran added St. Louis’ fourth run with a single into right field.
Breslow didn’t make it out of the seventh inning before he was replaced by Junichi Tazawa. The Sox were able to finally end the inning when Matt Holiday grounded out to second base.
End 6th, Red Sox 2-1: Michael Wacha seemingly loves the big stage. But David Ortiz lives for it.
Ortiz broke up Wacha’s shutout and gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Ortiz’s blast landed in the first row of seats atop the Green Monster.
Dustin Pedroia started the rally with a one-out walk. He took a first-pitch strike, but Wacha missed with four straight pitches after that.
Ortiz’s home run is his 17th career postseason long ball. No. 16 came in the seventh inning of Game 1.
Ortiz is Boston’s career leader in playoff homers (17), RBIs (55), total bases (143), walks (50) and runs (47).
Mid 6th, Cardinals 1-0: John Lackey has nearly matched Michael Wacha pitch-for-pitch.
Lackey gave up a seeing-eye single with two outs in the sixth, but otherwise provided another solid inning.
Carlos Beltran flied out to center field for the first out, and Matt Holliday, who tripled in his previous at-bat, struck out for the second out. Holliday chased an offspeed pitch that he had no chance of hitting.
Matt Adams then sneaked a single through the left side. But it didn’t amount to much, as Lester bounced back to retire Yadier Molina on a ground ball to second base.
End 5th, Cardinals 1-0: Michael Wacha has been as advertised through the first five innings of Game 2.
Wacha walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia to lead off the fifth inning, but then settled down to make sure that it didn’t evolve into anything bigger for Boston.
Stephen Drew flied out, Xander Bogaerts struck out and Jacoby Ellsbury popped out after Salty’s leadoff walk.
Mid 5th, Cardinals 1-0: Stephen Drew has been a vacuum in this game.
Drew made two very nice defensive plays in the top of the fourth inning as John Lackey retired the side in order.
Jon Jay led off with a sinking fly ball to right-center field that Jacoby Ellsbury caught on the run.
Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter followed with a pair of ground balls up the middle that Drew gobbled up.
End 4th, Cardinals 1-0: The Red Sox had their first real scoring chance of Game 2 in the fourth inning, but couldn’t produce a run.
Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a line drive off the Monster. Matt Holliday fielded it cleanly, but Pedroia raced into second base with a leadoff double.
David Ortiz then walked on five pitches to set up runners at first and second for Mike Napoli, who has already come up with some big hits this postseason. Napoli didn’t have any magic in him this time around, though. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to settle things down for Michael Wacha.
Wacha escaped the inning by getting Jonny Gomes to pop out to the right side. Pedroia was left stranded at third base.
Mid 4th, Cardinals 1-0: The Cardinals have their first lead of the World Series.
Matt Holliday led off the fourth inning with a fly ball toward the triangle in center field. Jacoby Ellsbury raced back, but the ball dinged off the wall and ricocheted past the Boston center fielder. Holliday scampered all the way to third base for a leadoff triple.
Dustin Pedroia kept Holliday from scoring by making a diving catch on a line drive struck by Matt Adams. But Yadier Molina was able to get the run home via a high chopper over the mound.
Pedroia fielded Molina’s chopper and looked toward home before wisely taking the out at first base. He really had no chance of throwing out Holliday.
Allen Craig walked with two outs, but David Freese grounded out to end the inning.
End 3rd, 0-0: A broken-bat single was all that the Red Sox mustered up against Michael Wacha in the third inning.
Wacha struck out Stephen Drew and Xander Bogaerts to begin the inning. Both went down swinging. Drew fanned on a 95 mph fastball, and Bogaerts was caught out in front of a changeup.
Wacha then jammed Jacoby Ellsbury with a 1-2 fastball, and the Red Sox leadoff man fought it off for a two-out single into center field. Pieces of lumber sprayed everywhere.
The Red Sox couldn’t capitalize on Ellsbury’s two-out single, though. Shane Victorino flied out to end the inning.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: It’s still early, but John Lackey looks as sharp as he did in Game 3 of the ALCS.
Lackey worked a 1-2-3 inning in the third while recording two strikeouts. The curveball that Lackey used to shut down the Tigers last round has accompanied him to the World Series.
Lackey’s first strikeout of the third inning came against Daniel Descalso. Descalso got tied up on a cutter in on the hands.
Matt Carpenter then went down swinging on an offspeed pitch down in the strike zone. Carpenter got a piece of it, but catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia hung on.
Carlos Beltran hit the first pitch he saw to Dustin Pedroia for the third out.
End 2nd, 0-0: A lengthy battle between Michael Wacha and Jonny Gomes highlighted the bottom of the second inning.
Mike Napoli, who delivered a three-run double in the first inning of Game 1, walked on five pitches after David Ortiz grounded out to second base to begin the inning.
Gomes then put up a nine-pitch battle against Wacha before the Cardinals’ talented rookie emerged victorious. Gomes fouled off three straight 3-2 pitches before lifting a routine fly ball to center field.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia also flied out to center field to cap off the second inning.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: John Lackey successfully worked around another hit in the second inning.
Yadier Molina led off the second inning with a single into right field. Dustin Pedroia made a bid for it, but it was well beyond his reach.
Lackey beared down from there. He retired Allen Craig, David Freese and Jon Jay in order.
Craig flied out to right field, Freese struck out and Jay grounded out to second base. Lackey pulled the string with a nasty curveball down and out of the zone to fan Freese.
End 1st, 0-0: Michael Wacha has been nearly unhittable this postseason, and we got a glimpse of why in the first inning.
Wacha has some nasty stuff. His best work in the first came against Shane Victorino, who struck out swinging on a changeup that dropped out of the strike zone.
Dustin Pedroia also struck out in the first inning. He foul tipped a 2-2 changeup into Yadier Molina’s mitt.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Carlos Beltran is in the lineup despite exiting Game 1 with a rib injury. He picked up a single in his first at-bat.
Beltran lifted a blooper to left field with one out after Matt Carpenter led off the game with a routine ground ball to short. Jonny Gomes dived in an effort to rob Beltran, but the ball fell just beyond the reach of Gomes’ outstretched glove.
The ball actually kicked away from Gomes, and probably would have been a double for most players. Beltran is clearly banged up, though, so he was forced to retreat after a wide turn around first base.
Beltran’s one-out knock didn’t lead to any damage on the scoreboard. John Lackey rebounded to retire Matt Holliday and Matt Adams.
Holliday struck out swinging, and Adams flied out to Gomes in left field.
8:09 p.m.: John Lackey delivers a first-pitch strike. Game 2 is underway.
8:04 p.m.: James Taylor performed the national anthem, the crowd greeted members of the 2004 World Series Red Sox team with a raucous ovation and we’re almost ready for baseball.
7:59 p.m.: I don’t know about you, but I could listen to Pedro Martinez talk all day.
Pedro, Derek Lowe and Trot Nixon spent some time talking with the media Thursday, and they were asked about the allegations made against Jon Lester. Pedro made it perfectly clear that the Cardinals weren’t very good in Game 1.
“It’s not about what [Lester] had in his glove. It’s about how bad St. Louis came to play,” Martinez said.
7:54 p.m.: John Farrell has said time and time again this season that Mike Napoli will not play catcher. That still holds true, even as three games in St. Louis — and the removal of the DH — looms.
“No, the one outside view might be to put Mike Napoli behind the plate, but we wouldn’t do that,” Farrell said Thursday. “One or the other (Napoli or David Ortiz) is going to sit [in St. Louis], unfortunately.”
7:50 p.m.: Clay Buchholz is still in line to pitch Game 4 in St. Louis, according to John Farrell.
“Well, everything that he’s going through right now is indicating that he will start Sunday,” Farrell said Thursday. “There’s been nothing that has happened since we spoke yesterday here or with Clay that would indicate otherwise, so we fully expect him to go.”
7:34 p.m.: The whole rosin-gate thing will likely linger for a few, but it’s clear that both sides want the issue to go away.
Both John Farrell and Mike Matheny on Thursday downplayed the allegations made against Jon Lester. Clearly, their focus is on the task at hand, which is winning a World Series.
Farrell said that he can say categorically that rosin was the only substance in Lester’s glove in Game 1. He said that Lester “sweats like a pig.”
Matheny, meanwhile, made it clear that the allegations weren’t instigated by the Cardinals. He called the whole thing a “dead issue.”
Click here for more from Farrell and Matheny >>
6:58 p.m.: The lineup cards have been posted, and Carlos Beltran will indeed be in the Cardinals’ starting nine.
Beltran left Game 1 in the third inning after suffering a rib injury while banging into the right field wall on a play that robbed David Ortiz of a grand slam. Beltran was taken to a nearby hospital for X-rays, which were negative, and he’ll bat second against John Lackey in Game 2.
There aren’t any major changes to the Red Sox’ lineup, with the exception of Jarrod Saltalamacchia starting behind the plate.
Have a look at the Game 2 lineups below.
Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Jonny Gomes, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Stephen Drew, SS
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
John Lackey, RHP
Cardinals
Matt Carpenter, 2B
Carlos Beltran, RF
Matt Holliday, LF
Matt Adams, 1B
Yadier Molina, C
Allen Craig, DH
David Freese, 3B
Jon Jay, CF
Daniel Descalso, SS
Michael Wacha, RHP
6:40 p.m.: Jon Lester was sensational in Game 1. The left-hander really only found himself in two jams throughout the contest, and he pitched his way out of both of them en route to 7 2/3 shutout innings.
The impressive performance wasn’t without controversy, though. A Cardinals minor leaguer tweeted a photo of Lester’s glove during the game and suggested that the pitcher was using a foreign substance. There appeared to be a lime green substance inside of Lester’s glove.
Lester responded to the allegations Thursday and denied any wrongdoing. He said that the substance inside of his glove was rosin, and that he has never cheated on the mound.
Click here for Lester’s response >>
8:30 a.m.: Boston took control in just about every way on Wednesday night, a feat that could be hard to replicate in Game 2 on Thursday.
Jon Lester picked up where he left off in 2007, while Carlos Beltran found he had some things in common with Torii Hunter (and no, not just finding the bullpen wall the hard way).
Also be sure to check out the best photos from Game 1 as well as an explanation of what happened on that strange call in the first inning, which manager John Farrell called the “swing moment” of the series so far.
8 a.m. ET: The World Series is off to a booming start for the Red Sox. Not so much for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals were sloppy early on in Game 1 on Wednesday, and the Red Sox immediately capitalized. Boston scored five runs in the first two innings en route to an 8-1 win.
Jon Lester was fantastic in Game 1. He pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings as Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, meanwhile, was far less effective, although St. Louis’ numerous defensive miscues did little to help his cause.
The Red Sox — who have now won nine straight World Series games dating back to 2004 — have an opportunity to really grab control with a victory in Game 2, but Lester and Co. are trying to make sure that they don’t get ahead of themselves in what is still expected to be a very tight series.
“Right now, we’ll enjoy this one and come in [Thursday] and be ready to go for Game 2,” Lester said shortly after Boston’s Game 1 win. “That’s all we can worry about right now is just the next one, the next task at hand, and hopefully Lack goes out there and does a good job for us.”
John Lackey will go up against rookie phenom Michael Wacha in Game 2. Lackey outdueled Justin Verlander in Game 3 of the ALCS in his last start, while Wacha (3-0, 0.43 ERA) has been absolutely lights-out in his three postseason starts.
Thursday’s Game 2 action is scheduled to kick off at 8:07 p.m. But sure to check back early and often before game time.
