ST. LOUIS — Neftali Feliz, Scott Feldman and Mark Lowe became a pitching trio that will live in World Series infamy.
Feliz and Feldman came within one strike of finishing off the first World Series title in the Texas Rangers’ 51-season history.
And then it all came apart in a stunning finish, leaving the Rangers 20 hours to recover for Game 7.
Feliz allowed David Freese’s two-run, two-strike triple over the glove of Nelson Cruz at the right-field wall, tying the score 7--7 in the ninth inning.
Then, after Josh Hamilton’s two-run home run against Jason Motte in the 10th inning put the Rangers ahead, Feldman gave up an RBI ground out to Ryan Theriot in the bottom half followed by Lance Berkman’s two-out, two-strike single.
Lowe allowed Freese’s lead off home run the landed halfway up the center-field grass in the 11th inning, giving the Cardinals a 10-9 victory Thursday.
“You know, it’s not that easy to win a world championship, as we found out tonight,” Rangers Manager Ron Washington said. “We’ll bounce back tomorrow. We’ve been in some tough situations before. We’ve always responded, and I expect us to respond tomorrow.”
Texas hasn’t lost consecutive games since Aug. 23-25. But this will be hard to overcome.
No team had ever come from behind twice in the ninth inning and later to tie a World Series game or take the lead.
“What happened today, I just think it’s - you had to be here to believe it,” Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa said.
It was a famous World Series score, matching Pittsburgh’s Game 7 victory against the Yankees in 1960 on Bill Mazeroski’s ninth-inning home run.
It was the most dramatic Game 6 since Kirby Puckett’s 11th-inning home run at the Metrodome propelled the Minnesota Twins over the Atlanta Braves in 1991.
Game 6 will be a classic everywhere but in Texas.
The Rangers built a 7-4 lead in the seventh when Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz hit consecutive home runs off Lance Lynn, and Ian Kinsler added an RBI single off Octavio Dotel.
Allen Craig’s second home run of the Series cut the gap in the eighth against Derek Holland.
In the ninth, Albert Pujols doubled with one out off Feliz, and Berkman walked on four pitches.
Craig took a called third strike, and Freese fell behind in the count 1-2. He sliced an opposite-field drive, and when Cruz jumped, the crowd of 47,315 at Busch Stadium couldn’t tell at first whether he caught it.
Feliz then retired Yadier Molina on a flyout to right, sending the game to extra innings.
The Rangers held the lead on six different occasions at the end of a half inning: 1-0, 3-2, 4-3, 7-4, 7-5 and 9-7.
Sports, Pages 21 on 10/28/2011