Thanks to some quality at bats and some non-quality pitching, the Cardinals added two big runs of insurance in the bottom of the fifth to pull ahead of the Rangers 5-2. At that point, what Tony La Russa and Cardinals fans everywhere were looking for from Chris Carpenter was a shutdown inning. You know, a shutdown inning. An inning where the pitcher makes quick work of the opponent to bring his own bats right back up.
World Series Game 7: Chris Carpenter Spins Scoreless Sixth
Well, based on the results, Carpenter turned in that shutdown inning in the top of the sixth. He wasn’t dominant in any way and he was actually rather lucky, but the Rangers went down 1-2-3.
Adrian Beltre led off with a ground out. That was nothing. Nelson Cruz stepped in and lifted a deep fly ball to left field. A very deep fly ball.
It just wasn't deep enough, barely. The next batter was Mike Napoli, and Napoli hit the ball hard the other way. But he hit it on a line, and that line was pointed directly at Lance Berkman. So while two of three Rangers batters socked the crap out of the ball, they both made outs.
And speaking of outs, the Rangers have just nine of those left. They trail 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, and Carpenter has wound up looking far better than one would’ve expected from his early performance.
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