MILWAUKEE — An afterthought in early September, the St. Louis Cardinals are taking their wild ride all the way to the World Series.
David Freese hit a three-run homer in the first inning and manager Tony La Russa turned again to his brilliant bullpen for seven sturdy innings as St. Louis captured its 18th pennant with a 12-6 victory over the bumbling Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday night.
Albert Pujols and the wild-card Cardinals took out the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies in the first round, then dispatched the division-rival Brewers on their own turf in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series.
Looking for its second title in six seasons, St. Louis opens the World Series at home Wednesday night with ace Chris Carpenter on the mound against the AL champion Texas Rangers.
“I mean, you could have never known,” Pujols said.
Trailing by 10 1/2 games in the wild-card race on Aug. 25, the Cardinals surged down the stretch and took advantage of a monumental collapse by Atlanta to win a playoff spot on the final night of the regular season.
Now, bolstered by a group of no-name relievers who keep answering La Russa’s call, the Cardinals are back in the World Series for the first time since beating Detroit in 2006.
“Well, it was crazy,” St. Louis outfielder Matt Holliday said. “We had a lot of adversity, but we found a way.”
It was a disappointing end to a scintillating season for Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and the NL Central champion Brewers, who finished with a franchise-record 96 wins, six games ahead of St. Louis.
Baseball’s best home team collapsed in the NLCS, though, losing twice at Miller Park in an error-filled flop. It was likely Fielder’s final game with the Brewers, too. He can become a free agent after the season.
Rafael Furcal and Pujols hit solo homers off Chris Narveson and St. Louis built a 9-4 lead by the time the bullpen took over for Edwin Jackson in the third inning.
The group of Fernando Salas, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, Lance Lynn and Jason Motte allowed two runs the rest of the way. For the series, St. Louis relievers finished 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA over 28 2/3 innings.
The biggest scare came when Pujols appeared shaken up after tagging out Braun in the fifth inning when he fell hard on his right forearm on a close play at first base. The three-time MVP was slow to get up, but stayed in the game.
St. Louis went 15-5 over the final 20 games to clinch a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season. The Cardinals needed Carpenter to throw a shutout to beat the Phillies 1-0 in Game 5 of the NLDS, but took control of this series beginning in Game 2 by jumping out to early leads and letting their bullpen lead the way.
La Russa called on his relievers 28 times in the NLCS, and Jackson’s start was the shortest of the postseason for the Cardinals rotation, which finished the NLCS with a 7.66 ERA. St. Louis became the first team to win a postseason series without a starter reaching the sixth inning.
Picked as the NLCS MVP, Freese gave others credit.
“I wish we could make eight or nine of these and give them to our bullpen,” he said.
Key moment
Decisive third-inning rally
After taking a 4-0 lead in the top half of the first inning, St. Louis led by just one run (5-4) after the Brewers scored three times in the bottom of the second. St. Louis, which won its 18th National League pennant, then broke the game open with four-run third, highlighted by Albert Pujols’ solo home run to left that measured 423 feet, and a two-run single by pinch-hitter Allen Craig that increased the lead to 9-4.
Star of the game
David Freese
The Cardinals’ third baseman completed a huge series in the clinching sixth game, going 3-for-4, driving in three runs and scoring three. Freese hit a three-run homer (his third of the series) to left field in the first inning, doubled deep to right in the third and singled in the fifth.
