St Louis Cardinals forced to watch their series lead disappear.
Jonny Gomes clubbed a three-run home run and David Ortiz batted three-for-three as Boston rallied to beat St. Louis 4-2 and level the World Series at two games each.
Unheralded Gomes smashed his two-out homer into the Red Sox bullpen off Cardinals reliever Seth Maness just moments after Maness had come in to replace starter Lance Lynn in the top of the sixth inning.
Gomes wasn’t even supposed to start the game for the Red Sox whose victory insured the best-of-seven series will go at least six games.
Manager John Farrell inserted him into the lineup just before game time after right fielder Shane Victorino was scratched with a bad back.
Game five is set for Monday night at Busch Stadium.
Ortiz led off the fifth inning with a, walked once and scored two runs for the Red Sox, who were able to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss the night before when the game ended in chaos after the umpires ruled that Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks had interfered with Cards baserunner Allen Craig.
Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz lasted only four innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two. His bullpen did the rest, including Japanese closer Koji Uehara who picked off Cardinals base runner Kolten Wong at first base for the final out of the game.
This is the fourth time Boston and St. Louis have squared off in the World Series and the first since 2004, when the Red Sox snapped their 86-year drought with a four-game sweep.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn struck out five and allowed three runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings of work.
Lynn got the first two outs of the sixth inning but was then replaced by Maness after Lynn had walked Ortiz.
Maness then gave up the three-run homer to Gomes which gave the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. Gomes was a career five-for-41 in the playoffs prior to his sixth-inning blast.
In the fifth, Lynn decided to pitch to Ortiz who doubled to centre field. Ortiz ended up scoring on a bases-loaded, none-out sacrifice fly by Stephen Drew. Ortiz beat the throw to home to tie the game 1-1.
St. Louis’ Carlos Beltran opened the scoring by hitting a single to centre field to drive home Matt Carpenter from second base.
Carpenter got on with a hit to centre field and was able to stretch it out to a double when Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury let the ball slip past him. Ellsbury was given an error on the play.
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