After sloppy play helped to sabotage the Cardinals in Game 1 of the 2013 World Series, it was their turn to take advantage of misplays in the Game 2, taking the lead on a throwing error by reliever Craig Breslow and hanging on to win 4-2.
Cardinals vs. Red Sox, World Series Game 2 GIF recap: St. Louis wins 4-2 as the error bug bites Boston
Sloppy play sabotaged the Red Sox, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 win to tie the 2013 World Series at one game a piece.
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY
The early innings of the game were dominated by the starters. Michael Wacha gave the Cardinals six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out six. John Lackey finished with 6⅓ innings pitched having allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts of his own, thanks in part to a nasty curve.
Despite Lackey’s top-shelf stuff, the Cardinals got on the board first, thanks to Matt Holliday’s elusive triple to center field.
Matt Adams followed up that blast from Holliday with a hard line drive, but he had the misfortune of hitting in the direction of Dustin Pedroia.
Pedroia’s defensive wizardry merely postponed the run for St. Louis. Yadier Molina brought Holliday home with a groundout to give the Cardinals a 1-0 in the fourth.
Wacha's domination of the Red Sox ended in the sixth. Following a walk to Pedroia, Wacha left a change-up high against the last hitter he could afford a mistake against and David Ortiz added another clip to his postseason highlight reel, giving Boston a 2-1 lead.
With 17 postseason home runs in his career, you have to admire Ortiz, but please, try not be creepy about it-
Lackey’s night ended after he allowed a walk and a hit back-to-back in the seventh. Trailing by one run, the Cardinals made the most of the opportunity with some aggressive base running.
The double steal gave St. Louis the chance to tie that game without a hit and Matt Carpenter was quick to come through, driving the first pitch he saw to left to bring in the run. That is when the Red Sox defense came unglued.
Reliever Craig Breslow may have handed the Cardinals the lead with that errant throw and then allowed an insurance run on a single to Carlos Beltran immediately after, but he can take comfort in the fact that it is a long series and there will plenty of chances for redemption.
Just ask Pete Kozma. The Cardinals Game 1 goat pitched in at the lead of that double steal and scored the tying run as a pinch runner and in the bottom of the seventh inning, he made this play to help out reliever Carlos Martinez:
In the eighth inning, Martinez get nearly as much help from his defense. After a fielding error by Matt Carpenter, he broke out a can of nasty to get Shane Victorino with a backdoor slider.
He went on to strike out Dustin Pedroia and following an infield single to David Ortiz, he made it easy on his defense by getting Mike Napoli to pop out.
Trevor Rosenthal took a cue from Martinez and decided not chance any more defensive miscues. The Cardinals closer struck out the side in order in the ninth to seal the victory as the series heads to St. Louis.
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