Cards flying high

St. Louis pummels Texas for 2-1 Series advantage

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, TEXAS

A blown call by first base umpire Ron Kulpa and a throwing error by first baseman by Mike Napoli led to a four-run fourth that changed the game, and Albert Pujols hit a long three-run homer that helped the Cardinals blast the Texas Rangers 16-7 in a messy World Series Game 3 on Saturday night.

Following two crisp games during a split in St. Louis, the teams played a messy Texas shootout that saw the fourth and fifth innings alone drag on for 1 hour, 22 minutes.

Given a 5-0 lead, St. Louis allowed Texas to close to 5-3 in the bottom half. St. Louis opened an 8-3 advantage in the fifth, but the Rangers closed to 8-6 in the bottom of the inning and had the bases loaded when Ian Kinsler hit an inning-ending popup.

Pujols followed in the sixth with a no-doubt, 423-foot drive off Alexi Ogando that clanked off the facing above the restaurant windows in left field, and Yadier Molina added a sacrifice fly. Pujols added another homer in the ninth inning.

Texas made three errors that led to three unearned runs.

Allen Craig, who had run-scoring pinch singles in the first two games, homered on Matt Harrison’s seventh pitch.

Pujols singled leading off the fourth and Matt Holliday hit a hard grounder to Elvis Andrus for what should have been a bases-clearing double play. The shortstop tossed to second, but Kinsler’s throw was off line and pulled Napoli off first base.

Playing first base for the first time in the Series, Napoli caught the throw and his glove came down hard on Holliday’s left shoulder, with the runner a step short of the bag, But Kulpa, called him safe, despite an argument from Rangers manager Ron Washington.

Lance Berkman singled, and David Freese’s double down the right-field line gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Molina was intentionally walked and Jon Jay hit a bouncer to Napoli, who had plenty of time to throw home for a forceout.

But his throw went over the left-handed batter’s box and past lunging catcher Yorvit Torrealba as two runs scored. Ryan Theriot singled for a 5-0 lead, and Harrison threw home on Rafael Furcal’s comebacker, with Torrealba blocking the plate and tagging Jay to prevent another run.

Michael Young homered off Kyle Lohse leading off the bottom half and Nelson Cruz’s two-run drive just over the right-field wall gave him home runs in four straight postseason home games. Molina made a nice defensive play to preserve the two-run lead after Kinsler flied to left, snagging Holliday’s one-hop throw slightly to the first-base side of the plate and sweeping his glove back to tag out Napoli.

Neither starter got out of the fourth. Lohse, 0-4 with a 5.54 ERA in nine postseason appearances, allowed hits to his first four batters in the fourth and was removed. He gave up three runs and five hits. Harrison gave up five runs — three earned — and six hits in 32/3 innings.

But Scott Feldman put the Rangers in a deeper hole in the fifth, giving up Freese’s RBI grounder and Molina’s two-run double.

Young’s RBI double off Fernando Salas in the bottom half, Adrian Beltre’s run-scoring single against Lance Lynn and Napoli’s sacrifice fly cut it to 8-6.