Game 1, October 21
Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
Two rookies faced off in Game 1 for the first time in history: Anthony Reyes for St. Louis and Justin Verlander for Detroit. It looked like the Tigers were going to get to Reyes early in the bottom of the first, when Craig Monroe doubled and Magglio Ordóñez walked. Carlos Guillén singled Monroe in, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. However in the top of the second, Scott Rolen led off and hit a long home run to left field, tying the score at 1-1. Rolen was 0-for-15 in his career in the World Series before hitting the home run. The previous mark had been 0-for-13, set by Benny Kauff of the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series. In the third inning the Cards broke through, first when Chris Duncan's RBI double scored Yadier Molina to give the Cardinals the lead. On Verlander's next pitch, the 2005 National League MVP, Albert Pujols, banged a 2-run home run, punishing the rookie who elected to pitch to the dangerous Pujols, rather than walk him with first base open and two outs and pitch to Juan Encarnación. Meanwhile, Anthony Reyes was the story. The pitcher who had the fewest wins of a Game One World Series starter (5) at one point retired 17 in a row from the 1st inning to the 6th inning, a World Series record for a rookie. The previous record was 13 (John Stuper, STL, 1982, and Dickie Kerr, CHW, 1919). Reyes' final line was 8+ innings, four hits, two runs, and four strikeouts. The Cards took advantage of Detroit's mistakes again in the 6th, when Brandon Inge made two errors in one play. With runners on second and third, Inge threw to home wild to score a run and then obstructed Scott Rolen, who was running home, to score another run. Craig Monroe hit a solo home run off Reyes in the bottom of the ninth, which led to Reyes being pulled from the game, as Braden Looper came in to finish the game. The final score was 7-2 Cardinals, marking the first time since 2003 that the National League has won a World Series game, and the first World Series game won by St. Louis since Game 5 of the 1987 World Series.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
St. Louis |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
2 |
|
Detroit |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
|
WP: Anthony Reyes (1-0) LP: Justin Verlander (0-1) |
|
HRs: StL – Scott Rolen (1), Albert Pujols (1) Det – Craig Monroe (1) |
Game 2, October 22
Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
With a starting temperature of 40 °F (4 °C), controversy surrounded the start of Game 2 when Tigers starting pitcher Kenny Rogers was found to have an unknown substance on a patch of the palm of his pitching hand during the first inning. Although Cardinals hitters claimed that the ball was doing "weird things" in the first inning, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa did not request an inspection of Rogers' hand to determine what the substance was. Rogers said it was dirt, and complied with a request from the umpires to wash his hands before the second inning.[3]
Rogers would go on to pitch eight shutout innings, running his postseason streak to 23 straight shutout innings, giving up only two hits. Craig Monroe hit his second home run in the series, and Carlos Guillen, who was a home run away from the cycle, and Sean Casey each drove in runs to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead going into the ninth. Todd Jones then came into the game to close it out but got into a heavy jam, with Scott Rolen being driven in by Jim Edmonds before a force-out at second with the bases loaded won the game for the Tigers. Craig Monroe became the fifth player to hit a home run in each of his first two World Series games. The others were Barry Bonds for the Giants in 2002, Ted Simmons for the Brewers in 1982, Dusty Rhodes for the New York Giants in 1954, and Jimmie Foxx for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1929.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
St. Louis |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
|
Detroit |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
X |
3 |
10 |
1 |
|
WP: Kenny Rogers (1-0) LP: Jeff Weaver (0-1) SV: Todd Jones (1) |
|
HRs: Det – Craig Monroe (2) |
Game 3, October 24
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
After being shutout by Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers for eight innings in Game 2, St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter answered with eight shutout innings of his own in a 5-0 Cardinals victory in Game 3. Carpenter, making his World Series debut (he missed the entire 2004 World Series due to injury) gave up only three hits, struck out six and did not issue a walk, while throwing only 82 pitches.
St. Louis began the scoring in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded double by center fielder Jim Edmonds which scored two runs. Two more runs would score in the bottom of the seventh on an error by Detroit pitcher Joel Zumaya, who overthrew a routine ground ball to third baseman Brandon Inge. St. Louis would add another run in the eighth on a wild pitch.
Reliever Braden Looper would pitch a perfect ninth to close out the game and give St. Louis a two-games-to-one advantage in the Series.
The Cardinals became the first team since the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 to host a World Series game in their first season in a new ballpark.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
Detroit |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
|
St. Louis |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
X |
5 |
7 |
0 |
|
WP: Chris Carpenter (1-0) LP: Nate Robertson (0-1) |
|
|
Game 4, October 26
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
Game 4 was pushed back a day because of rain, the first time a rainout had occurred since Game 1 in 1996. The Cardinals won, taking a 3-1 series lead. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third, after Sean Casey had two RBIs, including a home run. The other RBI came from Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez, who singled in Carlos Guillen. Rodriguez, who had been hitless in the previous 3 games, also went 3-for-4. In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals struck back with a run-scoring double by David Eckstein, scoring Aaron Miles who had the first stolen base of the series by either team. Yadier Molina doubled in Scott Rolen in the fourth to cut the Tiger lead to 3-2. The score remained that way, until the bottom of the seventh, when Eckstein led off with a double over the head of Curtis Granderson, who had slipped on the wet Busch Stadium outfield. Eckstein then scored on a sacrifice bunt by So Taguchi that was thrown over the head of Placido Polanco covering first by Fernando Rodney, and that tied the score, 3-3. Later that same inning, Preston Wilson hit a single to left with two outs that scored Taguchi from 3rd. The Tigers tied the game in the top of the eighth on a Brandon Inge double that scored Ivan Rodriguez. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cardinals would regain and keep the lead when Miles scored on a double by Eckstein just off the glove of the outfielder.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
Detroit |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
1 |
|
St. Louis |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
X |
5 |
9 |
0 |
|
WP: Adam Wainwright (1-0) LP: Joel Zumaya (0-1) |
|
HRs: Det – Sean Casey (1) |
Game 5, October 27
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
On a day in which it rained much of the day but stopped early enough to not delay the game, the Cardinals won to clinch the championship 4 games to 1, making this the first 5-game series since the Yankees-Mets Series in 2000.
Justin Verlander pitched a sloppy first inning for Detroit, walking three and tying a World Series record for a single inning by throwing two wild pitches. He avoided allowing any runs, however, thanks to a good play by shortstop Carlos Guillen to get the third out on what was almost an infield hit.
The Cardinals took the lead in the second inning on a lead-off single by Yadier Molina followed by two advancing groundouts, and then an infield single by David Eckstein. Detroit third baseman Brandon Inge made a good play to stop the ball off Eckstein's bat, but then made a poor throw to first which got by the first baseman and allowed Eckstein to advance to second. The throwing error was the seventh error of the series by the Tigers, also giving them at least one error in every game to that point.
Cardinals pitcher Jeff Weaver (an ex-Tiger) was cruising into the fourth inning, and he appeared to be nowhere near trouble with a lead-off groundout, followed by a routine popup by Magglio Ordóñez. This popup turned out to be much more troublesome than it first appeared: right fielder Chris Duncan dropped the ball, apparently distracted by center fielder Jim Edmonds who was also going after the ball. With Ordóñez on via the error, the very next pitch of the game was hit by Sean Casey into the right-field seats just inside the foul pole for a two-run homer that gave Detroit the lead, 2-1. The Cardinals would threaten immediately in the bottom of the inning, however, with Yadier Molina and So Taguchi each singling to put runners at first and second with one out. Pitcher Jeff Weaver then came up and attempted to bunt the runners over to second and third. The bunt was fielded cleanly by the pitcher Justin Verlander, but he attempted to force out the lead runner at third and threw the ball into the left-field foul area. This allowed Molina to score to tie it up, with Taguchi and Weaver arriving safely at third and second. The throwing error by Verlander was the fifth error by Detroit pitchers in the World Series, having committed one per game, setting a new World Series record. The next batter, David Eckstein, grounded out to score the runner from third, and St. Louis secured their lead, 3-2.
Chris Duncan misplayed another ball in the top of the sixth for a Sean Casey two-out double, but this time the runner would be stranded as Ivan Rodriguez then struck out to end the inning. A David Eckstein single followed by a Preston Wilson walk in the bottom of the seventh put runners at first and second with none out for the heart of the Cardinals order: Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen. Pujols popped out and Edmonds flied out, so it appeared Detroit might hold the Cardinals to a one-run lead. Instead, Scott Rolen singled and scored Eckstein, doubling the Cardinals lead to 4-2.
Jeff Weaver had pitched a one-two-three eighth, and the Cardinals went to the ninth three outs away from their first World Series title in 24 years. The man called on to get those three outs would be Adam Wainwright, who had won the job of closer after the star free agent brought to St. Louis in 2002, Jason Isringhausen, had season-ending surgery. Detroit's clean-up hitter, Magglio Ordóñez, led off the inning. He proceeded to work a full count but then grounded out. The second batter, Sean Casey, worked a full count and then doubled to bring the tying run to the plate. The third batter, Ivan Rodriguez, got ahead in the count 2-0 but grounded back to Wainwright on the next pitch, putting the Cardinals one out away. The fourth batter, Placido Polanco, fell behind 1-2, but then worked a walk to put the tying run on. The fifth batter, Brandon Inge, fell behind 0-2, again putting the Cardinals one strike from a World Series championship. He did not extend the drama any longer, as he swung and missed at the next pitch (making it the first World Series to end on a strikeout since the 1988 World Series), giving the World Series title to the Cardinals. The final play of the 2006 season was made at 10:26pm St. Louis time.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
|
Detroit |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
|
St. Louis |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
X |
4 |
8 |
1 |
|
WP: Jeff Weaver (1-1) LP: Justin Verlander (0-2) SV: Adam Wainwright (1) |
|
HRs: Det – Sean Casey (2) |