9 big moments from Monday's Red Sox-Cardinals World Series Game 5
After two crazy finishes in Games 3 and 4, Twitter was awash with suggestions as to what new, bizarre way World Series Game 5 would conclude:
Gomes cuts his beard to buy Wainwright a watch chain. Wainwright sells his watch to buy Gomes a comb for his beard. #HowGame5WillEnd
- Matthew Leach (@MatthewHLeach) October 28, 2013
Allen Craig walkoff HR, limps around bases, suddenly starts running full speed, revealed to be Keyser Soze. #howgame5willend
- Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) October 28, 2013
Would either of them be proven right? Let's hit the GIFs.
The Red Sox wasted no time starting up their offense. Dustin Pedroia put on a first-inning laser show with a double to left field, and David Ortiz brought him home on his own two-bagger to right, scoring the game's first run.
Other than the two hiccups to Pedroia and Ortiz, Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright was dealing -- recording all six outs in the first two innings on strikeouts:
In the third inning, with David Freese standing on first base, Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma dropped down an excellent sacrifice bunt. The only thing better was Sox starter Jon Lester's throw to first base:
While the Red Sox were able to scratch one run across in the first inning, they hadn't done much since. That left the door open in the fourth for a red-hot Matt Holliday to tie the game at 1-1 on a single swing of the bat.
Guess what happened:
The Redbirds couldn't keep the bats going, however, and the inning came to an end when Boston shortstop Stephen Drew auditioned for the NBA and took away a line drive from Yadier Molina:
In the seventh inning, Boston struck again. For once, it wasn't David Ortiz who did the damage, but catcher David Ross. With Xander Bogaerts at second and Drew at first, Ross knocked a ground-rule double over the wall in left field, scoring Bogaerts and giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.
After a Jon Lester groundout, Jacoby Ellsbury delivered a single to center, plating Drew. Ross got thrown out trying to score from second, however, and the inning would end -- Boston up 3-1:
As Lester returned to the mound to face the heart of the Cardinals' order, he took stood astride the rubber and lea-
OMG #RallyPlane!!!
Unfortunately, the #RallyPlane wasn't enough, and the Cards couldn't chip away at the 2-run deficit. Koji Uehara entered the game for a four-out save, and slammed the door on Game 5:
So, how did Game 5 end? Turns out on a Koji Uehara save, which had happened 21 times in the regular season and six times in the postseason. Bizarre? Maybe not. Impressive? Most definitely.
Game 6 at Fenway Park gets underway Wednesday night.