The St Louis Cardinals turned the tables on Boston by taking advantage of some slapstick Red Sox fielding to claim a 4-2 victory at Fenway Park late on Thursday and level the World Series at 1-1.
The Cardinals, who committed three errors in losing the opener 8-1, scored three runs in the seventh inning, aided by a pair of Red Sox miscues, to overtake Boston. St. Louis rallied after David "Big Papi" Ortiz erased a 1-0 Cardinals lead with a two-run homer over the Green Monster in the sixth inning off rookie pitching sensation Michael Wacha. Wacha registered the win to improve to 4-0 in the postseason after two great innings of relief from Carlos Martinez set up Trevor Rosenthal for the save, which he posted by striking out the side in the ninth. The trio of
Cardinals pitchers combined on a four-hitter. John Lackey took the loss for Boston. Wacha and Lackey had been locked in a taut pitchers' duel through five innings with the
Lead-off triple
Cardinals leading 1-0 thanks to a lead-off triple in the fourth by Matt Holliday, who scored on a soft grounder by Yadier Molina. Ortiz hammered his fifth home run of the postseason with Dustin Pedroia aboard to put Boston on top 2-1 and send the sold-out Fenway crowd into a frenzy.
But the Cards dealt the Red Sox a blow in the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Matt Carpenter flied to left and outfielder Jonny Gomes unleashed a throw to the plate in hopes of nailing pinch-runner Pete Kozma at home.
The throw arrived just as Kozma slid in but was wide toward first base. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia stretched to make the catch and try a sweep tag, but did not control the ball as Kozma scored.
Reliever Craig Breslow, backing up the play, tried to throw out John Jay as he advanced toward third but his attempt sailed over the head of third baseman Xander Bogaerts and allowed Jay to score.
A single by Carlos Beltran, who returned to the lineup after suffering a rib injury in Game One, brought Daniel Descalso home to cap the three-run inning in which Saltalamacchia and Breslow were charged with errors.
The best-of-seven series shifts to St. Louis for the next three games with Game Three scheduled tonight.