Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Boston 8, St. Louis 1
When: 8:07 PM ET, Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 50°
Umpires: Home - John Hirschbeck, 1B - Mark Wegner, 2B - Dana DeMuth, 3B - Paul Emmel, LF - Bill Miller, RF - Jim Joyce
Attendance: 38345

Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1:
Mike Napoli doubled in three runs and Jon Lester dominated through 7 2/3 scoreless innings as host Boston took Game 1 of the World Series from St. Louis.

Dustin Pedroia drove in a run and scored twice and David Ortiz added a two-run homer among three RBIs for the Red Sox, who have won nine straight World Series games going back to 2004. Lester (1-0) scattered five hits and walked a batter while striking out eight to improve to 3-1 in the postseason.

Adam Wainwright (0-1) was let down by his defense and ended up charged with five runs (three earned) in five innings. Shortstop Pete Kozma made a pair of errors that led to runs in each of the first two innings as the Cardinals fell into a 5-0 hole and lost Carlos Beltran to a rib injury.

The game turned in the bottom of the first inning when Ortiz grounded to second and Kozma dropped a relay throw that could have turned into an inning-ending double play. Pedroia was initially ruled out at second base before the umpires got together and reversed the call, leaving the bases loaded for Napoli to rip a 2-2 cutter into the gap in left-center to clear the bases and put Boston on top 3-0.

St. Louis’ fielding woes continued in the second when Stephen Drew led off with a popup that dropped harmlessly between Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina for a single. Kozma’s second error on a soft grounder in the hole loaded the bases, and Pedroia singled in a run before Beltran reached into the bullpen to rob Ortiz’s grand slam attempt and leave the Red Sox with a sacrifice fly and a 5-0 advantage.

Another Cardinals error kept the seventh inning alive for Ortiz, who blasted a two-run homer off left-hander Kevin Siegrist. Daniel Nava doubled and scored on Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly in the eighth and Matt Holliday finally got St. Louis on the board with a solo homer off Ryan Dempster in the ninth.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Ortiz is the first left-handed batter to homer off Siegrist this season. … Beltran, who slammed his chest into the wall robbing Ortiz in the second, left the game in the third with a right rib contusion and was replaced by Jon Jay. Beltran was sent to the hospital for X-rays. … The Cardinals had a chance with the bases loaded in the fourth, but 2011 World Series MVP David Freese grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Boston
Adam Wainwright Player Jon Lester
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 7.2
4 Strikeouts 8
6 Hits 5
5.40 ERA 0.00
Hitting
St. Louis   Boston
Matt Holliday Player David Ortiz
2 Hits 2
1 RBI 3
1 HR 1
5 TB 5
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 7 1 10 .212 9 10 1 1 0 3
Boston 8 1 13 .242 13 7 8 1 0 1