Texas @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 26, 2011 ) Texas 0, St. Louis 0
THE STORY: After their first shot at the championship was postponed Wednesday due to threatening weather, the Texas Rangers go after their first World Series title Thursday in Game 6 against the host St. Louis Cardinals. Texas recorded a 4-2 victory on Monday with postseason hero Mike Napoli smacking the go-ahead two-run double to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Napoli has nine RBIs in 13 at-bats in the series and is only the second player in World Series history with four multi-RBI games. The other is Mickey Mantle for the 1960 New York Yankees. Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Thursday in St. Louis.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, Fox.
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Colby Lewis (0-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Cardinals LH Jaime Garcia (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Lewis is 1-1 with a 2.95 ERA in three postseason starts. He gave up just one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings while taking a no-decision in Game 2. Nick Punto had two of the hits.
Garcia pitched seven shutout innings of three-hit ball in Game 2 but didn’t get the win due to Jason Motte’s ninth-inning implosion. He struck out seven and walked one. Garcia is 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in four postseason starts.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS: St. Louis left 12 runners on base in Game 5. Matt Holliday reached base three times on a single and two walks but left five runners on base the two times he was retired. Albert Pujols was walked intentionally three times and went 0-for-2. Yadier Molina had three hits and drove in his fifth run of the series. Allen Craig was caught stealing twice to become the first player thrown out multiple times in a World Series game since the Yankees’ Billy Martin in 1955.
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Napoli has driven in nearly half of Texas’ 19 runs in the series. Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre hit solo homers for the Rangers’ other runs. Beltre is batting .381 in the series while Moreland is batting just .111 in 27 postseason at-bats. Michael Young is hitting .211 in the series with three of his four hits going for extra bases. Josh Hamilton is just 3-for-19 in the series and homerless in 60 postseason at-bats. Neftali Feliz has two saves in the World Series and six in the postseason.
FINAL PITCH: St. Louis scored 16 runs in Game 3 of the World Series but has only tallied six in the other four games.