Mr. October Jr. Takes The Field

Well, for the first time this series, we had a very high scoring game, which was actually close until around the 7th inning. In the top of the 1st, Allen Craig launched a fastball for a homer to left field. In the 4th, the Cardinals put runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. David Freese knocked a hard double down the 1st base line to score one and make it 2-0. After an intentional walk to Yadier Molina, the bases were loaded with one out. Mike Napoli made an error on a soft ground ball to score two more and the next batter, Ryan Theriot, singled to right to make it 5-0. Michael Young led off the bottom of the 4th with a homer, however, and after an Adrian Beltre single, Nelson Cruz followed him up to make it 5-3. In the 5th, the Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out. David Freese grounded out to third to score another and make it 6-3. Yadier Molina then knocked a double into left, scoring two and making it 8-3. After two singles to start the bottom of the 5th, Michael Young doubled to left to make it 8-5. Later in the inning, Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single and Mike Napoli drove in a run with a sac fly to make it 8-6. After a single, a walk, and a strikeout to lead off the 6th, Albert Pujols drove them all home with a homer to left to make it 11-6. Later in the inning, Yadier Molina knocked a sacrifice fly. In the 7th, Pujols crushed a 2-run homer to make it 14-6. In the bottom of the 7th, a sacrifice fly for Mike Napoli would make it 14-7. In the 8th, Yadier Molina crushed an RBI double, scoring Daniel Descalso and making it 15-7. In the 9th, Albert Pujols became Mr. October Jr. with his 3rd homer of the night to make it 16-7.
       The pitchers weren't very good on either side, with both pitchers going 3+ innings and allowing 3 earned runs. However, excluding Fernando Salas the Cardinals' bullpen was pretty good- and that was the difference. They were capped off by a 1 2/3 inning, no run performance by Octavio Dotel (upper right). However, it was Lance Lynn who got the win with a run allowed in 2 1/3 innings. Offensively, the Cardinals' obvious highlight was Albert Pujols, who went 5-6 with 4 runs (3 coming on the homers), and 6 RBIs- plus of course, the fact that he hit 3 homers in a game. David Freese also had a good game, going 2-4 with 2 RBIs and a double. Yadier Molina was very sharp offensively as well, going 2-3 with 4 RBIs. For the Rangers, the biggest highlight was Michael Young, who went 2-5 with 2 runs and an RBI- including a solo home run. Adrian Beltre also had quite a day, going 4-5 with 2 runs and an RBI. The pitching matchup for a very important Game 4 today is Derek Holland for the Rangers and Edwin Jackson for the Cardinals.