Will Middlebrooks, the Red Sox' third baseman, was called for obstructing Allen Craig as he rounded third base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the St. Louis Cardinals won, 5-4, in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 47,432, the largest audience at the new Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals lead the best-of-seven series, two games to one. Game 4 is Sunday night, when Clay Buchholz is scheduled to start for the Red Sox against the Cardinals' Lance Lynn.
With Yadier Molina at third and Craig at second, the Red Sox brought the infield in, and Jon Jay hit a grounder to second base. Dustin Pedroia threw home to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who tagged Molina out.
Saltalamacchia threw to third to get Craig, who was advancing on the throw home, but the ball got away. As Craig scrambled to get up and run home, Middlebrooks, sprawled on the infield dirt, lifted his legs. Craig stumbled over Middlebrooks and ran home anyway, but he appeared to be tagged out on the second throw home to Saltalamacchia in the sequence.
But the third-base umpire, Jim Joyce, immediately ruled the obstruction and called Craig safe. As the Cardinals ran out of the dugout to celebrate, the Red Sox came out of their dugout to argue, just as they did in 1975. But in both cases they lost the argument, and the game.
The Cardinals scored twice in the first inning off Red Sox starter Jake Peavy, but were unable to do more damage against him when they had their chances, and Boston twice overcame two-run deficits to tie the score.
Trailing by two in the eighth, the Red Sox put runners at second and third with one out against relief pitcher Carlos Martinez. St. Louis opted to walk David Ortiz intentionally to load the bases, then brought in the hard-throwing Trevor Rosenthal to face Daniel Nava batting right-handed.
Nava hit a grounder to second baseman Kolten Wong, who had come into the game in a double switch, but the relay throw from shortstop Pete Kozma to first was late. Jacoby Ellsbury, who had led off with a single, scored to make it 4-3.
The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, hit a high bouncer up the middle that deflected off Kozma's glove and into center field as Shane Victorino, who had been hit by yet another pitch, trotted home with the tying run.
Earlier, the Cardinals took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh, in part because of a small defensive lapse by the Red Sox.
The roots of that play came in the top of that inning. With the score tied, Red Sox Manager John Farrell pinch-hit Middlebrooks for Stephen Drew, the shortstop who is struggling offensively but is still a top-echelon defensive player.
It was a gamble, because Farrell had to put Middlebrooks at third base in the bottom of the inning and move Bogaerts, the starting third baseman, to shortstop. Despite Drew's problems at the plate, he is a better defensive player than Bogaerts, and the difference soon became apparent.
Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the seventh with a ground ball to short. Bogaerts charged and caught the ball, but his throw to first was wide and low, and perhaps not as hard as Drew might have thrown it. It was not an error, but Carpenter was safe on an infield single and the next batter, Carlos Beltran, was hit (barely) by a pitch from Craig Breslow.
The Cardinals had runners at first and second with nobody out, so Farrell brought in Junichi Tazawa to face Matt Holliday, who ripped a double down the left-field line and into the corner. Both runners scored as the St. Louis fans, shivering on a 46-degree night, erupted in delight.
The Red Sox trailed by 2-0 after the first inning, but chipped away with a run off Joe Kelly, the Cardinals' starter, in the fifth inning after Bogaerts led off with a triple into the gap in right-center field.
Kelly then walked Saltalamacchia to put himself in even more jeopardy. He struck out Drew, after which Farrell pulled Peavy for pinch-hitter Mike Carp.
Carp hit a slow bouncer to second base — slow enough that St. Louis could not turn the inning-ending double play. Saltalamacchia was out at second, but Bogaerts trotted home from third to bring the Red Sox within a run, 2-1.
They drew even in the sixth. Kelly walked Victorino to lead off the inning, and it came back to hurt him. After Pedroia lined out sharply to third, Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny pulled Kelly and brought in the left-hander Randy Choate to face Ortiz. It didn't work as Ortiz yanked a ground-ball single through the infield shift to put runners at first and third with one out.
Matheny then elected to bring in the right-hander Seth Maness to turn around the switch-hitting Nava. That didn't work, either, because Nava lined a base hit to left, scoring Victorino. Bogaerts hit into a double play to end the inning, but the Red Sox had tied the score, 2-2.
