GAME 3
Cardinals 5
Tigers 0
ST. LOUIS — In suffocating the Tigers over eight innings, Chris Carpenter was commanding.
Carpenter issued a magnificent effort last night at Busch Stadium in one of the best pitching efforts in World Series history. In Game 3 of the World Series, the reigning Cy Young winner easily blanked the Tigers in a 5-0 win, allowing only three men on base the whole night.
Carpenter served up three singles in his eight frames, walking nobody and striking out six, pitching the Cardinals to a 2-1 series lead before 46,513 at Busch Stadium. He only tossed 82 pitches and faced only 26 batters, two more than the minimum for eight innings. Braden Looper finished the ninth.
St. Louis can now go up 3-1 tonight with NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan on the mound, while righty Jeremy Bonderman is on the hill trying to tie it up for Detroit.
The Tigers have been at the plate in 26 innings so far in the Series and scored in four of them.
Nobody scored in the first three last night, but in the fourth, Preston Wilson singled to start the inning. Albert Pujols lined a ground-rule double to right to put Cards on second and third with none out. Nate Robertson (five innings, two runs) walked Scott Rolen to load the bases.
Robertson got Ronnie Belliard to ground to third, and Brandon Inge forced Wilson at the plate. But Jim Edmonds brought then brought in two.
Edmonds pulled a groundball double down the right-field line, scoring Pujols and Rolen to put the Cards up 2-0.
In the seventh, flame-throwing Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya single-handedly gave up two more runs. He walked David Eckstein and Wilson to start and after getting Pujols to hit a comebacker, threw wildly to third. The poor throw allowed both runs to score and Pujols to end up at second, pushing the lead to 4-0.
Carpenter, who was beaten in Game 6 of the NLCS by the Mets, began last night by retiring the first seven Tigers. He gave up a one-out single to center to Inge in the third, but after Robertson’s sac bunt moved Inge up to second and Carpenter’s wild pitch sent him to third, the pitcher got Curtis Granderson to ground out to second to end the inning.
Carpenter had a brief physical problem in the seventh, but he also got defensive support from his teammates. Placido Polanco led off with a liner that Pujols made a backhanded catch on. After the out, trainer Barry Weinberg and Tony La Russa came out to the mound, and they were checking out Carpenter’s right hand.
The Cards ace stayed in the game. He began the next hitter, Magglio Ordonez, with a 2-0 count. But Ordonez hit a pop to right that So Taguchi made a sliding catch on, and Carpenter retired Carlos Guillen on an inning-ending flyout.