Rangers fall short in Game 1 in St. Louis

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Star-Telegram

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

October 19, 2011 ET

C.J. Wil­son had his best start of the postsea­son, but couldn’t get through six innings. And the Texas Rangers’ offense didn’t produce any runs against the St. Louis Car­dinals’ bullpen in the           

final three innings.

In the end, St. Louis held on for a 3-2 victory over Texas in Game 1 of the World Se­ries on Wednesday night at Busch Sta­dium. The Car­dinals lead the best-of-sev­en se­ries 1-0.
Game 2 is sched­uled for 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Busch Sta­dium. Colby Lewis starts for the Rangers, while Jaime Garcia goes for the Car­dinals.
With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, the Car­dinals pulled ahead. David Freese had a one-out dou­ble, and then moved to third on a wild pitch by Wil­son. Wil­son had a piv­otal strike­out against Yadi­er Molina, and then pitched around Car­dinals No. 8 bat­ter Nick Punto with the pitch­er due up.
That move prompted St. Louis to use                           

pinch-hitter Allen Craig, ending starter Chris Car­penter’s night. It also ended Wil­son’s night, as Alexi Ogando re­lieved him.

Ogando, though, gave up an RBI single to Craig down the right-field line, and the Car­dinals took a 3-2 lead. That proved to be the game-deciding run.
The Rangers had a chance in the sev­enth. Nel­son Cruz had a one-out single fol­lowed by Mike Napoli drawing a walk. But pinch-hitters Craig Gen­try and Esteban German both struck out.
With the top of the or­der due up in the eighth, Car­dinals right-hander Octavio Do­tel recorded the first two outs, and then for­mer Rangers left-hander Arthur Rhodes ended the inning by getting Josh Hamilton to fly out to center.
The Rangers went down in or­der against                   

Car­dinals clos­er Ja­son Motte in the ninth. With one out, Adrian Beltre grounded out to third, but it appeared the ball hit off his foot, which would make it foul. But Beltre and man­ag­er Ron Wash­ington argued unsuccessfully to home plate um­pire Jerry Layne.

The Rangers had rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Napoli pulled the Rangers even in the fifth with a two-run oppo­site field home run to right off Car­penter.
The Car­dinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Lance Berkman chopped a two-run single down the right-field line off Wil­son.
Wil­son went 5 2/3 innings, al­lowing three runs on four hits with six walks (two in­tentional) and four strike­outs. He was charged with the loss, and is now 0-3 with a 7.17 ERA in four postsea­son starts.