The St Louis Cardinals moved within one win of returning to the World Series with an 8-3 romp over the San Francisco Giants that gave them a 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series on Thursday.
Starter Adam Wainwright, bouncing back from a sub-par outing, stymied the Giants with a sharp-breaking curve ball, as the Cardinals gave him plenty of support with two runs in the first and two more in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Matt Carpenter, whose two-run home run as a mid-game substitute propelled World Series champions St Louis to victory on Wednesday, reached base three times and scored twice, while Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina and Jon Jay each drove in two runs.
Photo: Reuters
Holliday said the Cardinals would not suffer from overconfidence in the best-of-seven series, considering that the Giants advanced in the division round despite losing the first two games of the best-of-five series at home.
“They had their backs against the wall against the Reds and won three in a row, so we still got our work cut out for us,” the power-hitting outfielder said.
Run-scoring singles by Holliday and last year’s postseason MVP David Freese off Giants starter and loser Tim Lincecum quickly put the Cards into the lead.
Wainwright gave up a solo home run to Hunter Pence in the second inning but nothing more, as he fashioned a dominant performance after a dismal start in the deciding Division Series game against the Washington Nationals that put the Cardinals in a 6-0 hole before they battled back to win.
“I was terrible in that game and the guys played great to bail me out,” said Wainwright, who registered only seven outs in that do-or-die contest.
“It was a big motivator,” Wainwright said. “I know that I’m good enough to pitch in the post-season and to carry this team deep into the game and give them a quality game, a quality outing. Last time, I didn’t do it. I was very confident coming into the game.”
Wainwright yielded just four hits in seven innings, did not issue a walk and struck out five.
The right-hander’s road to victory got easier when St Louis added two more runs in the fifth on singles by Holliday and Molina, and two more in the sixth on Jay’s two-run double.
“You expect Adam to pitch well, pitch like an ace and he did,” Holliday said. “Tonight he came out and pitched like he can pitch. Sometimes things like the Washington game happen, but he’s tough as nails.”
Pablo Sandoval added two runs to San Francisco’s total with a home run in the ninth off reliever Fernando Salas.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was