Cardinals 4, Red Sox 2
Jon Jay scored the go-ahead run on an error during a three-run seventh inning as visiting St. Louis evened the World Series at a game apiece.
Michael Wacha (1-0) allowed two runs on three hits in six innings and Carlos Martinez fanned three in two scoreless frames before Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth on 11 pitches for the save. Carlos Beltran started despite suffering a rib contusion in Game 1 and contributed two hits and an RBI while Matt Carpenter plated the tying run for the Cardinals, who host Game 3 on Saturday.
David Ortiz hit a two-run homer and John Lackey (0-1) worked six strong innings before running into trouble and was charged with three runs on five hits. Craig Breslow allowed two inherited runners to score and yielded an unearned run of his own in the seventh while recording just one out as the Red Sox had a nine-game World Series winning streak come to an end.
Lackey issued a one-out walk and allowed a weak single in the seventh before being replaced by Breslow, who walked Daniel Descalso to load the bases. Carpenter followed with a short sacrifice fly to left, and pinch runner Pete Kozma scored as Jonny Gomes' throw got away from catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Breslow retrieved the ball and fired to third, sailing it over Stephen Drew’s head and into the box seats up the left-field line to allow Jay to cross the plate with the go-ahead run. Beltran’s RBI single made it a 4-2 advantage.
Matt Holliday led off the fourth with a drive into the triangle in center that hit the side wall and caromed past Jacoby Ellsbury for an easy triple. Dustin Pedroia made a great play to snag Matt Adams’ line drive, but Holliday was able to score the first run on Yadier Molina’s high-bouncing groundout to second.
The Red Sox broke through against Wacha in the sixth. Pedroia drew a one-out walk and Ortiz followed by belting a 3-2 changeup the opposite way into the “Green Monster” seats for a 2-1 lead.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wacha ran his scoreless innings streak in the playoffs to 19 before Ortiz‘s homer, matching Bob Gibson’s franchise record. … Boston squandered a chance to take a lead in the fourth. Pedroia led off with a double and Ortiz walked before Mike Napoli grounded into a double play and Gomes popped out. … Breslow surrendered three hits in seven scoreless innings over the first two rounds of the playoffs.