Allen Craig had a pinch hit, go ahead single in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals bullpen threw three innings of shutout ball, as St Louis defeated Texas 3-2 to take a 1-0 lead in the World Series.
Craig came up with two on in the sixth, pinch hitting for Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter, who had just thrown 87 pitches through six innings. Craig singled to right off Rangers reliever Alexi Ogando, in on relief of starter CJ Wilson, scoring David Freese to give St Louis a 3-2 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. Carpenter had a solid start for the Cardinals. In his six innings, he allowed two runs on five hits and one walk, striking out four. Wilson on the other hand, wasn’t too stellar: he went 5 2/3 innings, allowed four hits and three runs, walked six, and struck out four.
Both bullpens performed well. The Rangers bullpen allowed two baserunners in 2 1/3 scoreless, but one of them was Craig, who’s single was the game winner. St Louis’ bullpen was even better, who allowed two runners in three scoreless innings, with closer Jason Motte finishing the game off with a perfect, ten pitch ninth.
Neither team showed much offense. Texas got their two runs on a long home run by Mike Napoli in the fifth. Ian Kinsler and Adrian Beltre each had two hits, and the rest of the Rangers team combined for just two. The Cardinals also had six hits to go along with their three runs, two of which scored on a Lance Berkman single in the fourth. Berkman would have two hits for the game to pace St Louis. Albert Pujols would also reach twice, on a walk and a hit by pitch.
Game two will be tomorrow in St Louis as Texas looks to even the series. Colby Lewis goes for the Rangers, and Jaime Garcia will be the starter for the Cardinals. Gametime is 8:05 PM.
