The Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the 2013 World Series. The final score was surprising as the Red Sox crushed the Cardinals 8-1, taking the 1-0 lead in the Fall Classic. Jon Lester pitched a great game, while the Cardinals' defense could not back up their ace Adam Wainwright.
Lester, pitched 7 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball as the Cardinals could not figure out the stone cold lefty. He allowed five hits and struck out eight in his best playoff outing of 2013.
Though Lester was the highlight, the Red Sox put on a show on offense. Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz each had two hits and scored two runs in this game. Also matching up with Ortiz was Mike Napoli as the clutch performers finished the game with three RBI each.
Napoli opened up the scoring with a bases clearing double that was set up by a reversed call. It was one of a couple of key plays involving Ortiz. Pete Kozma blew the catch on a groundball hit by Ortiz. It should have been a double-play, but instead the Red Sox once again took advantage of their opponents' mistakes. Napoli struck with the double and it was over for the Cardinals.
Ortiz drove his first run of the game with a sacrifice fly that should have been a home run. Carlos Beltran walked up to the wall and trapped the out. However, Ortiz struck again later with a deeper fly ball to right center, clearing the wall, scoring Pedroia. That home run was set up by another error after Cardinals' third baseman committed a throwin error.
Wainwright went five innings, allowing three earned runs while recording four strikeouts. The errors proved too costly. The Red Sox have let few mistakes slip through their hands in this playoffs and Wainwright saw this first hand as the Red Sox put this game away early.
The Red Sox have now won nine straight World Series games dating back to 2004 and 2007 when the swept the Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies.
