ST. LOUIS (AP) — A look at Game 3 of the World Series at Busch Stadium on Saturday night as the Boston Red Sox take on the St. Louis Cardinals:
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ONE-RUN GAME: A leadoff triple by rookie Xander Bogaerts helps Boston trim the deficit to 2-1 in the fifth inning.
Right fielder Carlos Beltran, playing with those bruised ribs, couldn't cut off the ball in the gap. Beltran was unable to bend over enough to glove the ball — or perhaps he had an idea how much it would hurt and shied away.
Stephen Drew followed with a strikeout, but Bogaerts scored when pinch-hitter Mike Carp bounced a chopper to second base. St. Louis got the force at second, but Carp easily beat the relay to first as Bogaerts scored.
Joe Kelly struck out Jacoby Ellsbury to end the inning.
With all the talk about the Boston beards, nobody ever seems to mention Carp's bright red number. Yes, he's a bench player — but it's an epic effort.
Long, straight, stiff as a board. Definitely has an Amish look to it. Or maybe more Scandinavian. Tough to choose.
Carp batted for pitcher Jake Peavy, so left-hander Felix Doubront is on in the bottom of the fifth.
Doubront retires David Freese with two on to end the inning. Cardinals lead 2-1.
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ESCAPE: Peavy pitches out of major trouble in the fourth inning. Bases loaded, nobody out — Cardinals don't score.
Conservative move by third base coach Jose Oquendo to hold Yadier Molina at third on Jon Jay's single to center. Looked as though it would have been tough to throw out Molina at the plate. And with light-hitting Pete Kozma and pitcher Joe Kelly up next, probably a good time to take that chance.
Molina, however, wasn't running very well as he got to third, and Oquendo threw up a late stop sign.
Kozma was called out on strikes before Kelly and Matt Carpenter popped up.
Good move by Cardinals manager Mike Matheny to let Jay swing the bat instead of bunt with runners at first and second and none out. Again, with the bottom of the lineup to follow, good time to be aggressive.
Matheny certainly was. Oquendo was not.
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SETTLING IN: Peavy looked much sharper in the second and third than he did in the first inning. Maybe he's settling down a bit and finding his rhythm.
Peavy is a fiery guy on the mound, often yelling at himself in the middle of a game. Controlling his emotions can be an issue for him. Perhaps Peavy was a little over-amped in the first inning.
Cardinals still lead 2-0 after Joe Kelly strikes out Daniel Nava on a full-count pitch with two on to end the top of the fourth.
Jacoby Ellsbury's leadoff grounder in the fourth got past a diving Matt Carpenter at second base for Boston's first hit.
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SLOPPY PLAY: Ellsbury and the Red Sox catch a break on some bad baserunning by Matt Holliday in the third.
Playing deep against Holliday, Ellsbury ran in a long way on a popup to shallow center and appeared to have some trouble with the wind. Ellsbury dropped the ball for an error, but second baseman Dustin Pedroia alertly fired to first to throw out Holliday, who rounded the bag too far and was slow trying to get back.
Probably should have reached second safely if he had busted it out of the box the whole way.
These teams tied for the best regular-season record in the majors, but there certainly has been some sloppy play so far in this Series.
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EARLY LEAD: Run-scoring singles by Holliday and Yadier Molina give St. Louis a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
The Cardinals are 7-0 when scoring first this postseason. That flame-throwing young bullpen has a lot to do with that. You don't want to be behind in the late innings against this team.
Peavy, coming off a poor start in the ALCS against Detroit, doesn't appear to have many answers so far tonight, either. Several hard-hit line drives so far, though the Cardinals do not have an extra-base hit yet.
Interesting play by Carlos Beltran after Matt Carpenter's leadoff single. When the count went to 3-1 and Boston third baseman Xander Bogaerts shifted further off the line, Beltran tried to bunt for a base hit. He was thrown out by Peavy and credited with a sacrifice.
Beltran's bruised ribs might have had something to do with that decision. Fox sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal had just noted that Beltran took another pain-killing injection before the game but said he was feeling better.
Rosenthal, however, said Beltran told him he feels more comfortable swinging right-handed than left-handed since banging into the outfield wall in Game 1. Beltran feels as though his bat is dragging from the left side, Rosenthal said.
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HERE WE GO: Under way in Game 3 as the World Series shifts to Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Peavy was 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA in two playoff starts this month, though he did pitch well for 5 2-3 innings against Tampa Bay in the division series. This will be the first career World Series start for the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner.
Joe Kelly gets the ball for the Cardinals. He was 0-1 with a 4.41 ERA in three playoff starts.
Wearing those distinctive goggles, Kelly looks fired-up. Pumping in a heater at 98 mph in the first inning, he struck out Jacoby Ellsbury looking and then grabbed a comebacker barehanded.
Carpenter helped Kelly with a spectacular, diving play in the second to rob Daniel Nava of a hit. Nava getting his first World Series start in left field instead of Jonny Gomes.
Fox notes that 16 of the past 18 World Series that were tied 1-all were won by the team that took Game 3.
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UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY: With the move to the NL ballpark, there was no designated hitter allowed. Wanting to keep David Ortiz in the lineup after he homered in Games 1 and 2, Red Sox manager John Farrell put Big Papi at first base — where he played just 39 innings during the regular season.
Mike Napoli relegated to the bench for Boston, taking a big bat out of the lineup.
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HELP, PLEASE: In the first two games of the Series, Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia combined for seven hits in 13 at-bats. The rest of the Red Sox were 5 for 51 for an .098 batting average.
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EQUINE GUESTS: The Budweiser Clydesdales took a lap around the warning track before player introductions. Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. owned the Cardinals from 1953-96.
There also was a pregame video tribute to Hall of Famer Stan Musial, the Cardinals great who died in January.
Willie McGee, the former St. Louis outfielder and 1985 NL MVP, threw out the first ball.
- Sports & Recreation
- Baseball
- Carlos Beltran
- Boston Red Sox
- Jacoby Ellsbury
- Xander Bogaerts
- Matt Carpenter
- Mike Carp
- Jake Peavy
- Yadier Molina
- Jose Oquendo
- Matt Holliday
- World Series
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