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Game Six of the 2011 World Series was played by the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers on October 27, 2011. The Rangers, who led the World Series three games to two, had a chance to win their first championship in the 41-year history of the franchise. Texas held leads at five different points in the game and was only one strike away from victory in both the ninth and tenth innings, but the Cardinals came back each time, rallying to tie in the ninth and tenth before David Freese's home run leading off the bottom of the 11th gave the Cardinals a dramatic 10-9 victory. The next day St. Louis won Game 7 6-2 and won the Series. Game Six would later be characterized by some critics as the best World Series game of all time.

Pregame

Even before Game 6, the World Series between Texas and St. Louis was one of the most closely contested in years. Games 1 and 2 were each decided by one run, the Cardinals winning Game 1 3-2 and the Rangers winning Game 2 2-1 by scoring twice in the top of the ninth inning. St. Louis's 16-7 victory in Game 3 was marked by a historic Albert Pujols performance in which Pujols tied a World Series game record with three home runs and set another record with 14 total bases. The Rangers evened the Series with a 4-0 win in Game 4 that featured 8.1 innings of two-hit baseball from pitcher Derek Holland. Texas then took a three games to two lead by coming from behind to win Game 5 4-2 in a game memorable for the Cardinals' "Phonegate" blunder, in which a miscommunication between manager Tony LaRussa and the Cardinal bullpen led to the wrong pitcher coming to the mound in the critical eight inning. The 2011 World Series was only the second one since 2003 to go as many as six games.

Game 6 was postponed from Oct. 26 due to inclement weather and an unfavorable forecast in St. Louis. Jaime Garcia took the mound for St. Louis, and Colby Lewis pitched for Texas.

The game

First and second innings

Garcia got into trouble immediately. Ian Kinsler led off with a walk, followed by a single by Elvis Andrus that put runners at first and third, followed by a single by Josh Hamilton that resulted in a 1-0 Rangers lead, runners on first and third again, and nobody out. However, Garcia then rallied to strike out Michael Young and Adrian Beltre before getting Nelson Cruz to ground out to third to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first Rafael Furcal grounded out, Skip Schumaker singled, and Albert Pujols hit a fly ball to right. Then Lance Berkman hit a two-run homer to left center to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. It was Berkman's second home run of the Series and the only lead the Cardinals would have before the end.

In the second inning Garcia again started off by allowing a walk and then a single, this time to Mike Napoli and Craig Gentry respectively. Texas manager Ron Washington then called for pitcher Colby Lewis to bunt. The Cardinals put on the wheel play on two consecutive pitches, and on the second Lewis bunted into a double play, with the Cardinals forcing out Napoli at third and Lewis at first. Kinsler batted next and hit a ground-rule double to tie the game 2-2. Andrus flied out to end the inning. The Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the second.

Third and fourth innings

The Rangers and Cardinals both failed to score in the third. The Rangers saw a one-out single by Young erased by a Beltre double play, and the Cardinals were retired in order again in the third. This would turn out to be the only inning in the game where neither team scored.

The Rangers again took the lead in the fourth inning after an unusual Cardinal error. Cardinal pitcher Fernando Salas--who had just entered the game after LaRussa pulled Jaime Garcia following three difficult innings--got leadoff hitter Cruz to loft a pop fly to left. It appeared to be an easy play, but neither left fielder Matt Holliday nor shortstop Furcal made the catch. Holliday yelled "Take it!" to Furcal, they collided in short left, the ball fell to the ground and Cruz advanced to second base. Mike Napoli promptly singled, putting the Rangers ahead 3-2.

Lance Berkman led off the bottom of the Cardinal fourth and hit a chopper to Young. Young failed to field the ball cleanly, and when he finally did get a throw off to Lewis, Lewis couldn't find first base and Berkman was safe. Holliday drew a walk. David Freese, batting next, hit what could have been a 6-4-3 double play ball, but Matt Holliday's high slide knocked out Ian Kinsler and left Freese safe at first. Yadier Molina followed with a groundout that scored Berkman, and once again the Cardinals had erased a Ranger lead, leaving the score 3-3 after four innings.

Fifth and sixth innings

In the fifth inning a Cardinal blunder led to a Ranger run. Josh Hamilton led off with a pop fly to third. David Freese tried to catch it with one hand, but he missed it, and the ball then caromed off his head and fell to the ground. Freese later said that "When that ball bounced off my head, the front page is flashing through my head saying: Hometown Kid Blows It." Young followed up with a double, and for the third time the Rangers took the lead, this time 4-3. An intentional walk to Napoli and an unintentional one to David Murphy loaded the bases for pitcher Colby Lewis. Washington elected to let Lewis bat for himself rather than use a pinch-hitter, a decision that was later second-guessed after Lewis struck out.

After the Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the fifth and the Rangers did not score in the top of the sixth yet another error, this one by Texas, led to a Cardinal run to tie the game. After Berkman singled with one out, Holliday grounded to Michael Young at first base. Young attempted to pivot and throw to second, but he dropped the ball, and both runners were safe. Lewis then walked David Freese to load the bases, and Washington removed him from the game. Alexi Ogando, who had gotten six outs in the first five games of the Series while allowing seven hits and two walks (for a 13.50 Series ERA), entered the game and promptly walked Molina, forcing in Berkman and again tying the score, 4-4. With the bases still loaded and still only one out, Matt Holliday was picked off of third base by Napoli. Holliday injured his hand on the play and was removed from the game. Ogando then threw a wild pitch to advance the runners and then walked Cardinal second baseman Nick Punto to reload the bases. Washington then went to his bullpen again, calling on Game 4 hero Derek Holland, who got Jon Jay to ground out to end the threat.

Seventh and eighth innings

The Rangers struck quickly to retake the lead in the top of the 7th. Adrian Beltre led off with a home run off of Lance Lynn to put the Rangers up 5-4, and then Nelson Cruz hit another home run (his eighth of the postseason) to make it a 6-4 game. Four batters later, the lead expanded to 7-4 when Kinsler singled home Derek Holland, who had reached on a fielder's choice. The Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the seventh (St. Louis had only three hits in the game at this point, and only one since Berkman's homer), and the Rangers were two innings away from a championship.

The Rangers did not score in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth the Cardinals mounted a rally. Allen Craig hit a one-out homer off of Holland to cut the lead to 7-5. After a Freese groundout Molina singled, and Washington removed Holland from the game, replacing him with Mike Adams. Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa then sent up backup catcher Gerald Laird to pinch hit, only to recall him and send up utility infielder Daniel Descalso instead. This left LaRussa without any position players left on his bench. Descalso grounded to Elvis Andrus, who double-clutched before his throw to first, allowing Descalso to beat out a hit. Jon Jay, 0-16 for the Series prior to this at-bat, singled to load the bases. However, Rafael Furcal then tapped back to Adams, stranding all three runners and leaving the score 7-5. After the end of the eighth, Dallas-Forth Worth Fox affiliate KFDW sent out a premature news alert announcing that the Rangers had won the World Series.

Ninth inning

Jason Motte entered the game for St. Louis and pitched a scoreless top of the ninth. Then Ranger closer Neftali Feliz came on to get the last three outs and win the Rangers their first championship in 41 seasons in Texas (51 seasons as a franchise, starting with ten years as the expansion Washington Senators). The Rangers' clubhouse had already been prepared for the championship celebration, with the players' lockers covered in plastic and champagne and cases of beer labeled "Texas Rangers 2011 World Series Champions" in place. Cardinal manager LaRussa had told his coaches and players to go out of the dugout and bullpen and thank their fans after a Ranger victory.

Cardinal second baseman Ryan Theriot led off the inning by striking out on a 98 mph fastball from Feliz. The next batter was Albert Pujols. Pujols had enjoyed a historic Game 3, tying one World Series record with three home runs and breaking another Series record by recording 14 total bases, but had not gotten any hits in any other game of the series. He hit a double off of Feliz, then Lance Berkman, batting as the tying run, walked on four pitches. Allen Craig then struck out looking on a slider and the Rangers were one out away from winning the World Series. That brought up David Freese, who was 0-3 on the evening and had committed a critical error. Freese and Feliz had never faced each other before. Freese fell behind 1-2. With the Rangers one strike away from victory, Feliz threw Freese a 98 mph fastball, thigh-high, on the outside part of the plate. Freese hit the ball hard to the right field corner. Both Tony LaRussa and Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated had previously noticed that Rangers right fielder Cruz was not playing in the standard "no doubles" defense, where an outfielder positions himself deeper to prevent a possible game-winning hit from going over his head. Cruz drifted back to the warning track, then leaped at the baseball--but it sailed past his glove and hit the base of the wall in right field. Pujols and Berkman scored, tying the game 7-7, as Freese slid into third with a triple. The next batter, Yadier Molina, flied out to Cruz in right, and the game went to extra innings.

Tenth inning

Motte went back out to pitch the tenth for the Cardinals. With one out, Andrus singled. That brought up Josh Hamilton, dealing with a groin injury that had left him without a home run for the entire postseason after hitting 25 in the regular season. According to Hamilton, as he walked to the plate God told him he would hit a home run. He did, on the first pitch, and the Rangers had their fifth lead of the game, 9-7. Motte then retired Mitch Moreland (who had replaced Young) and Beltre, but the Rangers went to the bottom of the tenth with a two-run lead and three outs away from a World Series championship for the second consecutive inning.

Washington, believing that Feliz was emotionally drained after throwing 22 pitches and failing to get the save in the ninth inning, sent out 41-year-old lefthander Darren Oliver, with five career saves, to pitch the tenth. Lefthander Daniel Descalso led off with a single. Lefthander Jon Jay then blooped a single to short left field, and the tying runs were on base. The pitcher's spot was due up, and Tony LaRussa was out of pinch-hitters after using both Gerald Laird and Descalso for one at-bat in the eighth. LaRussa called on pitcher Kyle Lohse to bunt. Lohse hit the ball in the air, but over third baseman Beltre's head, and the runners advanced to second and third. Ryan Theriot then grounded out to third base, scoring Descalso to make the game 9-8, but tying run Jon Jay was not able to advance from second and the Rangers were again one out away from victory.

Scott Feldman entered the game to pitch for Texas after Lohse's bunt. On Rangers radio, play-by-play man Steve Busby handed over the microphone to his partner Eric Nadel, a 33-year veteran of Rangers broadcast, to call the potential final out. The next batter was Lance Berkman. Feldman got ahead of Berkman 1-2 then threw a cut fastball that missed the plate inside. With the count even, Feldman threw another cutter, at 93 mph to the inside part of the plate. Berkman lined a single to center field, Jay scored from second, and the game was again tied, this time 9-9. It was the fifth blown lead of the game for Texas and the third blown save. Allen Craig then grounded out to third and the game went to the 11th inning.

Eleventh inning

Jake Westbrook, a starting pitcher for the Cardinals during the 2011 regular season, came out to pitch the 11th inning. Mike Napoli singled with one out. Two batters later, with Napoli still at first base as the winning run with one out, Ron Washington elected to pinch-hit for Feldman with outfielder Esteban German. German grounded to second and the Rangers were retired.

With Feldman out of the game, Washington called on Mark Lowe in the bullpen instead of staff ace C. J. Wilson, who was also available. Lowe had had only one appearance for the entire 2011 postseason, one inning in World Series Game 3. David Freese led off the bottom of the ninth inning. Lowe fell behind 3-0 then got a favorable strike call. Freese swung and missed at the next pitch to run the count to 3-2. Freese then remembered that Lowe had struck out Berkman on a changeup in Game 3. Feldman threw a changeup. Freese hit a home run to straightaway center field to win the game 10-9. As the ball sailed over the centerfield fence, Joe Buck recalling his father Jack's famous call in a similar circumstance in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, said "We will see you tomorrow night!". After a full minute of silence in the booth, his broadcast partner Tim McCarver responded with "How did this happen?".

Aftermath

David Freese and Lance Berkman became the third and fourth players in World Series history to get game-tying hits with their team one out from elimination (the others were Otis Nixon in 1992 and Josh Devore in 1911).

Freese, who grew up a Cardinal fan in the suburbs of St. Louis, said that as he was circling the bases after his home run that he was thinking about a similar walkoff homer by Jim Edmonds for the Cardinals in Game 6 of the 2004 National League Championship Series. After Freese said he remembered that home run, Lance Berkman, who played for the losing Houston Astros in that series, said "So do I".

In his first at-bat of Game 7, in the bottom of the first inning with the Rangers leading 2-0, Freese had his third straight big hit, a two-run double to tie the game. The Cardinals never trailed again in Game 7, winning 6-2 to earn their llth World Series championship. Freese was named the World Series MVP. The Rangers thus became only the second team in World Series history to lose the World Series after being one strike away from victory; the first was the Boston Red Sox in 1986. They remained the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball without a World Series championship. Adrian Beltre of the Rangers later said that ""We all know we lost the Series yesterday. We shouldn't have let it slip away."

External links

• Box score and play-by-play at Baseball Reference
• Video highlights at MLB.com