Late drama as Cards seize lead
Print Edition
The St Louis Cardinals seized their first lead of the 109th World Series on Saturday, taking advantage of a ninth-inning obstruction call for a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox at Busch Stadium.
What began as a low-scoring pitching duel between St Louis’ Joe Kelly and Boston’s Jake Peavy turned into a see-saw offensive contest in the late innings, capped by one of the most bizarre finishes in World Series history.
“We saw the tangle there and it is just a matter of how they interpreted it and that’s the rule,” said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.
Allen Craig scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth after he tripped over Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks before racing to home plate to give the Cardinals a victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Craig was tagged out at home plate, but because the umpires ruled that Middlebrooks had interfered with him at third St Louis was awarded the winning run.
The Boston players protested vigorously, but television replays showed that Craig stumbled over a fallen Middlebrooks after the Red Sox infielder appeared to lift both his legs in an attempt to slow Craig down. Middlebrooks was charged with an error on the play.
“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Boston manager John Farrell. “Tough way to end a game, especially of this significance when Will is trying to dive inside to stop the throw.
“I don’t know how he gets out of the way when he is lying on the ground.”
Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday went 2-for-5 at the plate with three runs batted in and starter Kelly was terrific through five innings for the Cardinals, who have rebounded nicely from their 1-8 drubbing in Game 1 to win the next two contests.
“We live by the big hit and fortunately we got that big hit by Matt Holliday,” said Matheny. “He gave us some breathing room. And then just a little bit of trouble closing the door at the end.”
Third base umpire Jim Joyce said he had no hesitation in calling interference on Middlebrooks.
“The feet were up in the air and he (Craig) tripped over Middlebrooks right there, and immediately and instinctually I called obstruction,” said Joyce, adding he has never seen a game end on a call like that before.
Kelly pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out six in front of a sold-out crowd of 47,432 at Busch Stadium.
Trevor Rosenthal registered the win, while Brandon Workman took the loss.
St Louis is scheduled to send Lance Lynn, 15-10 in the regular season, to the mound for today’s Game 4 against Boston’s Clay Buchholz (12-1).
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