BOSTON — They danced in the aisles and crushed each other with hugs, and who could blame them?
Wednesday night for the first time since 1918, Red Sox fans witnessed their beloved club clinch a World Series title in Fenway Park where the world champions topped the Cardinals, 6-1 , in a Game 6 victory in front of 38,447 delirious customers.
“This is for you Boston,’’ Series MVP David Ortiz bellowed into a microphone while standing on the field as the crowd remained inside New England’s living room. “We supported you all year. You are family, brothers.’’
Long after Koji Uehara fanned Matt Carpenter for the final out and give the Red Sox their third World Series title in a decade, Fenway refused to empty.
For a team that was ridiculed for collapsing in 2011 and finished last in the AL East in 2012, the journey was celebrated hard in the cramped clubhouse where players bathed in Korbel champagne and Bud Light.
“When we started rolling nobody stopped the train,’’ said Ortiz, who walked four times [three intentionally] and went 11-for-16 (.688) in the Series that ended a little over six months following the Boston Marathon bombing in mid-April.
Shane Victorino, who missed Games 4 and 5 with a back problem and was hitless in his first 11 Series at-bats, delivered a three-run double in the third inning off Cardinals starter Michael Wacha and added an RBI single in the fourth.
With the rookie Wacha dominating the pitching conversation before the game, it was veteran John Lackey who was easily the night’s better hurler.
While Wacha didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, Lackey blanked the Cardinals until there were two outs in the seventh.
Victorino’s double off Wacha — it almost made it over the Green Monster for what would have been his second postseason grand slam — staked Lackey to a 3-0 lead and the issue was never in doubt.
Victorino has 20 RBIs in postseason bases-loaded situations, which is a major league record. He added an RBI single in the three-run fourth that got the jammed ballpark primed to celebrate.
Stephen Drew, who was 1-for-15 (.067) in the Series and 4-for-50 (.080) in the postseason coming into the game, homered in the fourth.
In 3²/₃ innings Wacha was rocked for six runs and five hits. Victorino’s double was the first hit given up by Wacha with runners in scoring position in the postseason.
“We were able to get pitches on the plate that we didn’t miss,’’ Boston manager John Farrell said of Wacha, who had bested Lackey in Game 2.
Two years ago Lackey was Fenway’s whipping boy. By the middle innings Wednesday night the crowd was chanting, “Lackey, Lackey, Lackey.’’ When he departed in the seventh, Lackey walked to the dugout smothered in a sea of cheers and tipped his hat to some of the same folks that booed him and blamed him for the 2011 collapse.
“His turnaround mirrors this organization,’’ Farrell said of Lackey, who missed last season because of Tommy John surgery.
The right-hander ran into turbulence in the seventh after retiring the first two batters. Daniel Descalso singled, Matt Carpenter doubled and Carlos Beltran’s single scored Descalso.
Farrell went to the mound but didn’t hook Lackey. Left in, Lackey walked Matt Holliday and was replaced by Junichi Tazawa with the bases loaded.
Tazawa kept it a five-run bulge by retiring Allen Craig on a hard-hit grounder to Mike Napoli that the first baseman bobbled for a moment.
“This team is strong, individually they are strong,’’ Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. “Hopefully they represented the city in a way that made people proud.’’