BOSTON — Two innings into what was predicted to be a well played and tight World Series, the Cardinals morphed into the 1962 Mets playing with a hair-hurting hangover.
The NL champs didn’t catch the ball, didn’t touch Jon Lester, had a call correctly reversed by the umpires and lost Carlos Beltran to a rib injury in the second inning.
According to Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, X-rays and a CT scan on Beltran’s ribs were negative and he is day-to-day. Beltran was injured making a lunging catch over the right-field wall to rob David Ortiz’s bid for a grand slam that turned into a sacrifice fly.
All of the bad luck and ineptness led to the Red Sox copping an 8-1 victory in Game 1 Wednesday night in front of 38,345 stoked but chilly customers at Fenway Park.
“We had a wake up call,’’ Matheny said of the awful performance that included three errors, two by shortstop Pete Kozma. “This is not the kind of team we have been all season and they are frustrated. I am sure embarrassed to a point. We get the opportunity to show the kind of baseball we played all season long and it didn’t look anything like what we saw.’’
Despite the umpires getting a call correct in the second when second baseman Matt Carpenter fielded Ortiz’s grounder and appeared to start an inning-ending double play, Matheny didn’t like the play being overturned after initially being called an out at second.
“They got together as a group and five of them believed that the call was different than the one that was made,’’ Matheny said.
Carpenter’s throw to Kozma glanced off the shortstop’s glove. Second base umpire Dana DeMuth called Dustin Pedroia out, explaining Kozma dropped the ball while making the transfer. Nevertheless, the ball never entered Kozma’s glove.
“That’s not a play I have ever seen before and I am pretty sure there were six umpires that had never seen that play before either,’’ Matheny said. “It’s a pretty tough time to debut that overruled call in the World Series. I get that trying to get the right call, I get that. Tough one to swallow.’’
Mike Napoli made it sting with a three-run double to left-center. Thanks to pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina letting a routine pop by Stephen Drew drop in the infield, the Red Sox scored twice in the second.
The 5-0 lead was more than enough for Lester to cruise. In 7²/₃ shutout innings Lester allowed five hits, a walk and fanned eight. Matt Holliday’s solo home run in the ninth accounted for the Cardinals’ run.
Lester escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth by feeding David Freese a grounder that started a 1-2-3 double play.
“The key to me was the double play in the fourth,’’ Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “As he got deeper into the game, he got his change-up in the mix a little more.’’
The Red Sox take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Series into Game 2 Thursday night. Neophyte Michael Wacha goes for the Cardinals and John Lackey starts for the Red Sox.
Wainwright lasted five innings, gave up five runs (three earned) and six hits. He required 60 pitches to get through the first two innings.
The Cardinals’ third error came in the seventh when third baseman Freese threw Pedroia’s two-out ground ball to third away at first. Lefty Kevin Siegrist surfaced from the pen to face Ortiz, who hit his fourth postseason homer over the right-field wall.
“It’s very important, especially at home,’’ Lester said of winning the first game. “You have to bear down and try to play good baseball.’’
Which was something the Cardinals certainly didn’t.