Coming into last night's game the Sox had won 9 World Series games in a row. John Lackey was on the mound hoping to bring that number to 10. Lackey would be faced up against Michael Wacha, who had been spectacular so far in the post season. Lackey pitched well and left the mound with the lead, but errors tagged the Sox this time and they weren't able to hold on to the lead.
The game lived off to the hype of the a pitchers duel by both Lackey and Wacha keeping the offense off the scoreboard in the early innings. The Cards finally got on the board in the 4th when Holliday hit a leadoff triple and then Molina hit an RBI sac grounder to have a 1-0 lead. The Sox had a chance to strike out in the bottom of the inning with 2 on and no outs, but Napoli didn't continue his hot streak in that moment and hit into a double play. However, the Sox were able to capitalize against Wacha in the 6th inning when Pedey walked and then Papi hit a 2 run blast into the Monster seats to put Boston in front. Sox 2-1. Fenway was suddenly alive again.
Unfortunately the excited frenzy would not last for long. Lackey took the mound in the 7th, but wouldn't be able to finish the inning. With one out, Lackey issued a walk and a single and was done for the night. He walked off the mound with the team still clinging to a 1 run lead and Craig Breslow came into the game hoping to protect. Breslow has been quite good and consistent this post season, but that trend would not continue last night. The Cards had a double steal and then Breslow walked the bases loaded with one out. Carpenter hit a flyout to left and Gomes threw home, but Salty wasn't able to handle the throw and then Breslow made an errant throw to 3rd to now have the Cards leading 3-2. The Cards finished off the inning with Beltran hitting an RBI single to go up by 2 runs. Sox 2-4. Brandon Workman came out and pitched the 8th and Uehara pitched the 9th, but the Sox bats did not have another rally in them on this cold October night. It was a frustrating loss since the Sox were able to rally and get the lead only to loss it in the next inning.
Red Sox 2 Cardinals 4 BOXSCORE Series tied 1-1.
WP: Wacha (1-0) LP: Lackey (0-1) SV: Rosenthal (1)
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