St. Louis takes 2-1 lead in World Series

The St. Louis Cardinals scored a controversial winning run on an obstruction call in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 in a wild finish to Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday.

With men on second and third and one out, and the infield drawn in, second baseman Dustin Pedroia made a sprawling stop of Jon Jay’s grounder and fired home for an out. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia threw to third to try and catch Allen Craig advancing.

The ball got past third baseman Will Middlebrooks who sprawled to his left to try and catch the throw. Left-fielder Daniel Nava backed up the play and threw home in time for Craig to be tagged out.

But the umpires ruled that Middlebrooks had gotten in the way of Craig as he tried to leave third base and obstruction was ruled, allowing Craig’s run to count and the game to go into the Cardinals’ column.

The victory gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic with Game 4 on Sunday at their Busch Stadium home.

Reuters