Boston Red Sox Take Game 1 of The World Series

24 Oct, 2013

The Boston Red Sox took advantage of sloppy St. Louis Cardinals fielding with superb pitching and timely hitting to run away with Wednesday’s World Series opener 8-1 at chilly Fenway Park.

Red Sox starter Jon Lester threw 7-2/3 scoreless innings and was backed by a three-run double by Mike Napoli and a two-run blast over the rightfield wall by David “Big Papi” Ortiz.

Boston took advantage of a Cardinals’ comedy of errors early on to take a commanding lead in the game and seize a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

“We had a wake-up call,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “That is not the kind of team that we’ve been all season. And they’re frustrated (and) I’m sure embarrassed to a point.”

The Red Sox scored three runs in the first inning on Napoli’s bases-loaded double off St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright, and two more runs in the second, helped in each inning by errors charged to shortstop Pete Kozma.

Ortiz poured it on with a booming two-run homer in the seventh in support of winning pitcher Lester, who deftly mixed his array of pitches in yielding only five hits and just one walk while striking out eight.

Matt Holliday finally put St. Louis on the scoreboard with a ninth-inning home run off reliever Ryan Dempster.

Losing pitcher Wainwright gave up five runs on six hits in five innings on the mound but only three were earned.

Reuters

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