The Red Sox couldn’t hold the tie game Daniel Nava generously gave them after the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Will Middlebrooks took over at third base and Xander Bogaerts moved to shortstop in lieu of Stephen Drew. Meanwhile, lefty Craig Breslow toed the rubber to start the inning. Important details.
Matt Carpenter led off with an infield single to Bogaerts. Breslow then threw a fastball just a bit too inside to Carlos Beltran, barely grazing the armor the Cardinals outfielder wears on his elbow, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Red Sox manager John Farrell brought on right-hander Junichi Tazawa to face Matt Holliday, but it went sour quickly. Holliday ripped a double down the left field line. As Nava retrieved the ball in the corner, Carpenter had already scored easily while Beltran motored around third base, scoring just ahead of the relay throw to put the Cardinals up 4-2. Holliday moved to third base on the play at the plate.
Tazawa was able to strike out Yadier Molina and work around a two-out walk of David Freese as Jon Jay flew out to center to end the inning. The Cardinals are six outs away from taking a 2-1 lead in the World Series.