The Cards do need a win here in Game 3 but they've got a tough road ahead: Michael Pesco (2-0, 1.80) was instrumental in the ALCS and he's finally ready to go and he'll face Jimmy McCauley, who struggled in his only game in the NLCS, although if memory serves that was mainly from getting nickel and dimed by the Braves offense. One option I do have, sort of, is to try Mike O'Leary (1-0, 5.48) out as a starter/opener type; he's a lefty and that might hit the Sox, who are already facing bad performances from a couple of lefty hitters down in the order, right where it hurts. That feels like a thing to do in the worst case scenario, though. It's clear skies and 53 degrees in the Gateway City tonight, with the wind blowing out to left at 8mph for once.
Top 1st: Both these lineups are facing these pitchers for the first time, I should note. Jon Glynn, 3-30 for the postseason now, continues his slump with a cheap fly out to right. Brian Long strikes out looking at a 2-2 fastball. Mike Miller hits into a rare out to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: Jim James flies out into short center field. Tom Depew also flies straightaway to CF Jon Glynn. Casey Satterfield takes a cut at a 2-2 cutter and comes up empty for out #3. 0-0.
Top 2nd: Tom Brown whiffs to lead things off. Schneider walks, the first baserunner for either side. Now Kim, only 3-25 so far in the playoffs, flies out to left on a ball that looked like it might have had a chance just for a second. Oniji Handa grounds to third to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd: Lorenzo Martinez lines one back through the box for the first base hit of this game. Not perturbed at all, Oniji Handa grabs a grounder towards 2nd from Rafael Disla and turns it into a 6-4-3 double play. Mike Galeana draws a 2 out walk. Brian Long gets eaten alive by a hot shot to second; it's an infield hit and everyone is safe. That brings up Dusty McCully, who strikes out swinging to retire the side. 0-0.
Top 3rd: Jeremy Dolak flies into right. Michael Pesco hits an easy fly to CF Jim James. Glynn also flies out for the 1-2-3 3rd inning. 0-0.
Bottom 3rd: Jimmy McCauley flies weakly to right in his first at-bat of the night. Jim James hits one to Brian Long that he's able to handle this time for the 4-3 out. Tom Depew strikes out swinging and it's another 1-2-3 inning. 0-0.
Top 4th: Brian Long whiffs to lead it off, the 3rd K for McCauley already. He has 8 Ks in 7.1 postseason innings - of course, also 9 earned runs. Mike Miller has a long at-bat end in a fly out to right field near the foul line. Tom Brown is just too hot to stop, as he belts a double off the center field wall 414 feet away from home plate. Kristian Schneider singles into right, pulling his postseason average over .200. Brown's running all the way with 2 outs and he beats the Casey Satterfield throw to the plate! 1-0. Jun Kim flies to center but first blood has been drawn. 1-0, Red Sox.
Bottom 4th: Casey Satterfield lines a single into left field to lead things off for the Cardinals. Lorenzo Martinez then belts one into the right-center gap for a double. With no outs, Casey Satterfield plays it safe and sticks at third. He's also pretty slow on the basepaths and, well, Jun Kim has the best outfield arm in baseball. That hit, the 2nd double in postseason 1971 for Martinez and his 4th double of his playoff career, still puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. The lefty-lefty matchup doesn't work out for Michael Pesco, as Rafael Disla drops a base hit in between Schneider and Handa and into left field. Both runners score and the Cardinals have their first lead in this World Series! Pesco catches Mike Galeana trying to make it a 4-1 lead and strikes him out swinging on a devastating changeup. John Stuart flies out to John Glynn in right-center field. Pesco puts one in the dirt on a 1-0 pitch but Jeremy Dolak keeps it in front of him! Two pitches later, Dusty McCully grounds out to Oniji Handa to retire the side. 2-1, Cardinals.
Top 5th: Oniji Handa slaps a ball to Mike Galeana at third base and he easily throws the Red Sox shortstop out. Jeremy Dolak flies out to CF Jim James, who has to run a little to catch up to the ball in left-center. Mike Pesco, a career .128 hitter, walks with 2 out; however, Jimmy McCauley catches him napping at first base and picks him off to end the inning. 2-1, Cardinals.
Bottom 5th: Speaking of pitchers doing non-pitcher things, McCauley singles up the middle to lead off the 5th. He, truth be told, is a .215 career hitter, so pretty good for his position. Jim James tries to bunt McCauley along to 2nd and, failing that, hits a grounder to 2B Brian Long that accomplishes the opposite: a 4-6-3 double play. Tom Depew slashes a 0-1 cut fastball into right field for a base hit. Pesco continues to have issues with the middle of this order; Casey Satterfield belts a double into the left-center gap and, running at the crack of the bat with 2 outs, Depew scores all the way from first! 3-1, Cardinals. Lorenzo Martinez strikes out. That's Pesco's 5th K of the game but it's still a 3-1 Cards lead.
Top 6th: A clean inning here and McCauley gets his postseason ERA down to 9. Jon Glynn walks to lead it off. He then runs on a high 80s fastball and gets ito second base! That's his 4th postseason steal and he's running practically every time he gets on. Brian Long knocks one into left field for a single but Rafael Disla is on it too quickly for Glynn to try to make a play at home. Mike Miller hits a ball to 2B Tom Depew and he's forced to trade the run for the out on a 4-6 fielder's choice. 3-2! Tom Brown hits a cheap roller... that gets past the pitcher and somehow ends up as an infield hit. Even when Brown doesn't make good contact, good things are happening for him. Kristian Schneider swings and misses at a 1-2 fastball for the 2nd out of the inning. Jun Kim hits a weak fliner that SS Dusty McCully runs in to grab for the final out. 3-2, Cardinals.
Bottom 6th: Rafael Disla gives Mike Pesco a bit of a break by swinging at a 3-0 pitch - it was down the heart of the plate - and only lining out to Kristian Schneider at 3rd base. Mike Galeana pops it up a mile into the air and it's pulled down by Mike Miller in foul territory. John Stuart hits a comebacker to the mound which Michael Pesco fields easily for a 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th inning. 3-2, Cardinals.
Top 7th: Oniji Handa flies out to center field. Now would be an okay time to pinch-hit for Jeremy Dolak and... okay, why not? Sam Marks comes in to try and get his first hit in his 7th try (0-5 so far with a walk). He does not, grounding out 4-3, and I'm going to let Pesco hit with 2 outs. He stares at a 3-2 pitch to retire the side. 3-2, Cardinals.
Bottom 7th: Sid Bartoszek comes in behind the plate for Dolak. He might even get a PA tonight! Dusty McCully raps one past a diving Kristian Schneider and into left field for a base hit. That's the 9th hit off of Michael Pesco, who held batters to a .248 average in the regular season. Jimmy McCauley has done enough, I think; he's out in favor of Ethan Keesee, now 1-4 in pinch-hitting duties in October. He's a lefty facing the lefty Pesco but he also hit .358 in the regular season. Keesee surprises everyone with a sacrifice bunt! Pesco recovers quickly enough to fire to first for the out but the Cards now have a runner in scoring position. Pinch-hitting for Jim James is veteran Elijah Johnson, 2-4 so far in the postseason. Pesco gets him to swing and miss at a low and away cutter for out #2. Tom Depew grounds out 5-3 and the Cards have fired two bullets without managing to hit anything. 3-2, Cardinals.
Top 8th: Johnson will take over in center field for James. Their new moundsman is Billy Munoz, trying to pick up a 2 inning save. He jams Jon Glynn on a 1-1 pitch, forcing the slumping CF to hit the ball right at SS Dusty McCully for out #1. Brian Long walks on 4 pitches. Mike Miller flies out and might wind up hitless for the first time in the World Series. Tom Brown - you guessed it! - raps a 2 out single into right field. Brian Long gets to third on the play and we've got another potential 2 out rally. It looks like it's going to be out #3... but then Rafael Disla badly misplays the ball hit to him! It flies over his head and bounces off the wall and by the time he can get it in, Brian Long has long scored and the runners have gotten to 2nd and 3rd! Rule that a double for the Red Sox third baseman, his 2nd in October. Jun Kim has been sooo bad so even though he does have the platoon advantage I'm going to remove him for Matt Wilson, who had a very solid 51 at-bats in the regular season (.353/2/11) and is 0-1 so far in postseason play. He hits a groundball to third that Mike Galeana is easily able to pick up and throw to first for the final out. 3-3!
Bottom 8th: Matt Wilson will stay in left and Tom Brown moves over into right field, a significant drop-off in defense but what do you do? Pesco just got over 100 pitches and has 2 lefties due up this inning so I'll let him face 3 guys and see where he's at from there. Casey Satterfield, 2-3 in the game with an RBI double, flies out to short right-center. Lorenzo Martinez walks o a 3-2 pitch; that's only Pesco's 2nd walk all game long. That brings up Rafael Disla, who drops a base hit into center field and tolls the end for Pesco, who finishes the game with 3 runs in 7.1 innings - he's also responsible for Martinez and Disla - on 10 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
With the pitcher due up next inning I'm bringing in former Angels hurler Bubba Touchton (5-3, 2.67, 3 Sv), who'se made just a single appearance so far in the month. He rarely hits 90 on the gun but does have a nice curveball that helped to generate a 57% GB rate this year. Facing off against Mike Galeana, he gives up a fly ball into center field. Jim James turns around and catches it but Lorenzo Martinez tags up and gets to third base on the play. Runners on the corners now, 2 down for C John Stuart, a .294 hitter in the regular season. Touchton walks him to load the bases. Touchton has only average control and it kind of left him in the worst possible moment. Pinch-hitting for SS Dusty McCully is backup catcher Jose Medina (.262, 0, 17). It was between him and Dylan Dockery and Dockery is more of a "get on base with speed" kind of guy. Medina swings at the first pitch and puts it into left field, but it carries just enough to allow Jon Glynn to get under it for the final out. 3-3.
Top 9th: Joe Wicker takes over at shortstop and this will probably be Billy Munoz' final inning, as he's due up in the bottom half. Oniji Handa grounds out to shortstop, dropping his postseason average below .250 (it's now .241). Sid Bartoszek gets his first PA all October; it's a lazy fly into right field. With 2 outs and nothing happening, I'll leave Touchton in. He strikes out swinging to retire the side - but! - and resetting the lineup should this game go into extra frames. 3-3.
Bottom 9th: Pinch-hitting for Munoz is Dylan Dockery. He hits a hard fly into left field but Matt Wilson is able to track it down for the first out. That brings up Elijah Johnson, who grounds out to 2nd. Tom Depew goes down 6-3 and we are headed for extra innings. 3-3.
Top 10th: Billy Munoz is out and Rick Legere is in. I don't like how Jon Glynn is hitting but even before I burned both of the main pinch-hitters the Red Sox don't have a particularly good defensive replacement for him, so he's staying in. He slaps a ball into the hole between short and third. Galeana lunges for it but it's past him for a base hit. Glynn's hitting over .100 for the postseason now, yay! And it should surprise nobody that he steals 2nd the first chance he gets. He's 5/5 in the postseason! Brian Long lays down a bunt that John Stuart scoops up and throws to first on the successful 2-3 sacrifice. Glynn is now 90 feet from giving the Red Sox the lead. Mike Miller is intentionally walked to face Tom Brown, who's hitting .562 in the games that count. Curious. It doesn't take a brainiac to figure out what happens next: Brown pounds one into right-center for a bases-clearing double. 5-3, Red Sox! Legere walks Kristian Schneider and that will be it for the young right-hander.
Taking the mound now is left-handed specialist Kevin Kading, now making his 4th appearance of the postseason. He's thrown 2.1 innings, given up 5 hits and 2 runs, walked 1, and struck out 1. Not exactly the best work but he's their guy when they need an out from a LHB and that's what Matt Wilson is. Wilson hits a hard grounder to third that Mike Galeana picks up and creates an around the horn double play with! 5-4-3 and the inning's over. 5-3, Red Sox.
Bottom 10th: In to save this one is Matt Brock, who's still trying to figure things out following 2 very bad months and a 6.23 ERA to date in October. He goes against the heart of the Cardinals' order too so good luck, my man. He gets Casey Satterfield to hit to Oniji Handa - always a good move if you're struggling - for a 6-3 groundout. Lorenzo carries a 3-2 fastball into medium center field for 2 outs. Just one more to go! Rafael Disla hits a weak groundball to Mike Miller over at first and he steps on the bag to end the game. 5-3, Red Sox!
Hey, Matt Brock actually came through for once! That's his first save all month, and it puts the Red Sox into a position where they might just be able to win this one in St. Louis tomorrow night. Do I hear the brooms a'sweeping?