St. Louis slips past Detroit
ST. LOUIS – With some help from a soggy field and two big hits by little David Eckstein, the St. Louis Cardinals took control of the World Series with a wild comeback win.
Eckstein’s tiebreaking double glanced off the glove of a diving Craig Monroe in left field in the eighth inning, and the Cardinals capitalized on Detroit’s sloppy defense for a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Game 4.
“He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever seen in a uniform,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said, praising scrappy shortstop Eckstein.
After Curtis Granderson slipped in center field on a key play trying for an earlier ball hit by Eckstein, rekindling memories of Curt Flood in the 1968 Series between these teams, St. Louis took a 3-1 lead to move within one win of its first championship in 24 years.
Jeff Weaver can wrap it up tonight at Busch Stadium when he pitches against rookie Justin Verlander.
“The fans here are unbelievable. They come out every single night supporting us and it would be a real honor to do something for them,” Eckstein said.
One word of caution, Cardinals rooters: St. Louis had a 3-1 lead in ‘68, too, before Detroit rallied to win behind lefty Mickey Lolich.
The decisive hit that time came when Flood, a Gold Glove center fielder, slipped on Jim Northrup’s two-out, two-run triple off Cardinals ace Bob Gibson to break a scoreless tie in Game 7 – right across the street, where the old Busch Stadium stood.
This time, the 5-foot-7 Eckstein hit three doubles and a single as St. Louis overcame an early 3-0 deficit to close in on its 10th World Series title. The last team to squander a 3-1 Series lead, however, was the 1985 Cardinals against Kansas City.
After a rainout Wednesday night – only the second World Series washout in 20 years – showers were expected again. But the heavy stuff stayed away on a 53-degree night and much of the back-and-forth game was played in a light mist that obscured the Gateway Arch beyond center field.
With St. Louis trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Eckstein hit a drive to right-center that Granderson appeared to have in his sights before he slipped to the slick turf, kicking up a huge divot. The ball fell for an easy double.
“If I had stayed up, I catch it easily,” Granderson said. “It wasn’t too much of a cut. As soon as I planted, it went underneath me.”
Pinch-hitter So Taguchi dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and reliever Fernando Rodney rushed an off-balance throw over the head of Placido Polanco covering at first base, allowing Eckstein to score the tying run.
It was the fourth error by a Tigers pitcher in four games, a record for one pitching staff in the World Series.
“Obviously, it was a little bit of a freak inning,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “It’s not our best fielding in the world, but that’s baseball.”
After an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and two strikeouts, Preston Wilson singled to left against Rodney to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.
But Ivan Rodriguez opened the eighth with a double and Brandon Inge tied it with a double off rookie closer Adam Wainwright, who avoided further damage by striking out pinch-hitter Alexis Gomez and Granderson.
That set the stage for St. Louis’ final rally. Yadier Molina drew a leadoff walk from Joel Zumaya before Aaron Miles beat out a potential double-play.
Miles moved up when strike three to Juan Encarnacion got past Rodriguez for a wild pitch, and Eckstein hit a drive to left-center.
Monroe sprinted to his left and laid out with a desperate dive, but the ball ticked off the tip of his glove. The left fielder lay prone on the grass as Miles scored the go-ahead run.