Did you know? World Series Game 1: BOS 8, STL 1

A look at some notable facts and figures from the Boston Red Sox's 8-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway Park on Wednesday.

• The Cardinals and Red Sox are meeting in the World Series for the fourth time. St. Louis won in 1946 and '67, while Boston swept in 2004. The clubs have not played each other since June 2008, when the Cards won two of three at Fenway Park.

• This is the 19th World Series for St. Louis (11-7) and the 12th for Boston (7-4). The Red Sox are playing in their third World Series in the past 10 years. Only the Cardinals have played in more in that span, reaching the Fall Classic four times.

• Yadier Molina and David Ortiz are the lone active players remaining from the 2004 squads. Cards right-hander Chris Carpenter is still with the club, but he missed both the '04 Series and all of this season with injuries. St. Louis skipper Mike Matheny was the Redbirds' starting catcher in '04.

• Ortiz has started all 68 of Boston's postseason games since 2003, and he is just the ninth player in franchise history to appear in three World Series.

• Boston starter Jon Lester tied a career postseason high with eight strikeouts. His 7 2/3 shutout innings were also a personal October best.

• Adam Wainwright turned in the second-worst playoff outing of his career, surrendering five runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk in five innings. He was knocked around for six earned runs in 2 1/3 innings in Game 5 of the National League Division Series last season, but had limited his postseason opponents to two runs or fewer in each of his six other October starts, in addition to 9 2/3 scoreless innings of relief as a rookie in 2006.

• The winner of Game 1 of any World Series involving the Cardinals has gone on to win 10 of the 18 series.

• Red Sox skipper John Farrell is the first skipper to reach the World Series in his first season with a team since Terry Francona did it in 2004, also with Boston.

• The Red Sox swept their last two trips to the World Series in 2004 vs. the Cards and in '07 against the Rockies. Wednesday's victory gave them a nine-game World Series winning streak, tying the Reds (1975-90) for the fourth longest in Major League history. The Yankees hold the top three longest streaks, at 14 (1996-2000), 12 (1927-32) and 10 (1937-41) games.

• Ortiz became the first left-handed batter to hit a home run off rookie southpaw Kevin Siegrist (84 at-bats). It was the 16th career postseason homer for Ortiz.

• Returning to the lineup for the first time since spraining his left foot on Sept. 4, designated hitter Allen Craig went 1-for-4 with a strikeout in his 2013 postseason debut.

• The Red Sox have now outscored their opponents 53-31 in 11 postseason games. Boston's 4.8 runs per game is the best mark of any club this October.