Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 2: One Strike Away

Game 6, 2011 World Series: Texas Rangers at St. Louis Cardinals

October 27, 2011, Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

Texas leads series 3-2

There were two strikes when David Freese sent the line drive to deep right. That's what probably made it most painful of all for the Rangers. They were literally one strike away from their first championship, in their 40th season in Texas. And instead of getting that last strike, Rangers closer Neftali Feliz gave up a deep line drive to right field that had Nelson Cruz drifting back.

Oh, right, Cruz was back there. Cruz hadn't yet been relegated to full-time DH duty by 2011 - he was only 30 years old, after all - but he had a big enough sample size for people to realize that his future did not lie in the outfield. The Rangers had a chance to take him out, too - Endy Chavez had pinch-hit for the pitcher the previous inning, so it would have been no problem to do a double-switch to keep Chavez's glove in the game. Plus, Chavez had a history of making series-saving catches against the Cardinals. There was really no reason at all for Cruz to still be back there.

But back there he was. He tried to jump for Freese's hit, but barely missed it, and it hit the wall. And then, the real trouble began, because of instead of dying at the wall, the ball bounced back past Cruz and into mid right field. That allowed Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman - neither of whom were going to win a footrace, unless it was against each other - to both score, and it allowed Freese to make it safely to third for the biggest triple of the 21st Century. And the stunned Rangers were left to wonder how they had blown it again.

Because this wasn't the first lead the Rangers had blown in Game 6. They had blown leads in the 1st, 4th, and 6th innings, too. So you had to admire the Cardinals' resiliency. You could knock them down, but they got right back up again.

The top of the 5th was looking especially big right about now. The Rangers scored once to take a 4-3 lead and ended up loading the bases with two outs. That brought up Colby Lewis, their starting pitcher, which brought up a decision. Lewis had been pitching well, but this was a chance for a knock-out blow, a way to put the game to bed early. It must have been tempting to pinch-hit for Lewis and let the bullpen take care of the rest. But manager Ron Washington didn't have anybody warming up, and if the pinch-hitter failed, and quickly, the reliever wouldn't have been ready in time. So he let Lewis hit, and Lewis struck out, and the lead stayed at 1.

We've already established the Cardinals were resilient, and that showed in the bottom of the sixth. They loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth with just one out, knocking Lewis out of the game, and reliver Alexi Ogando promptly walked Yadier Molina to tie the game. Busch Stadium was rocking, and not for the last time of the night, and Ogando couldn't find the strike zone. But his catcher, Mike Napoli, bailed him out by picking Matt Holliday off of third base. (You remember Matt Holliday, right?) Immediately after the pickoff, Ogando threw a wild pitch, which would have scored a run if not for Napoli's throw; after walking Nick Punto (Nick Punto!), Ogando was mercifully removed and Derek Holland helped the Rangers escape the inning.

And then came the 7th inning, which started with back-to-back home runs from Adrian Beltre and Cruz. See, the Rangers had a little bit of resiliency of their own. They added another run for a 7-4 lead, and at that point, if the Rangers themselves weren't counting the outs, you know their fans were.

Allen Craig hit a home run in the bottom of the 8th for the Cardinals, but that was only one of the three runs they needed. After three straight St. Louis singles loaded the bases with two outs, Rafael Furcal grounded out to reliver Mike Adams, and the Rangers were three outs away.

And that brought us to the bottom of the 9th, and a 1-2 count on Freese, and a deep line drive to right. You could knock the Cardinals down, but they got back up again. And they almost ended it on the next batter, when Molina hit a sinking liner to right, but Cruz made a nice running catch to keep the game alive.

And the Rangers kept countering. This time it was Josh Hamilton, batting in the top of the 10th with one on and one out, hitting the first pitch he saw out to deep right for the Rangers' second two-run lead in as many innings. Once again, the Cardinals fought back, only for the Rangers to respond. A pair of heavyweights trading haymakers.

Once again, the Cardinals fought back. The first two batters of the bottom of the 10th singles. Pitcher Kyle Lohse, pinch-hitting, bunted them over. A grounder from Ryan Theriot scored one, but now there were two outs. Again the Rangers were one out from winning, and the Cardinals were on the canvas. Again, one out away turned into one strike away as Scott Feldman got Berkman to a 2-2 count. And again, the Cardinals bounced up off the canvas and delivered a counterpunch, this time with a single to center that tied the game.

The Rangers were in shock. The Cardinals were in raptures. Busch Stadium was shaking. And though it wasn't technically over yet, it might as well have been. The Rangers went down mostly quietly in the top of the 11th. Maybe the fight had been beaten out of them. Leading off the bottom of the 11th was that man again, David Freese. Cruz wasn't in right anymore, finally replaced by Esteban German, a defensive replacement coming two innings too late.

But German, couldn't do anything about the ball Freese hit next. Chavez couldn't have done anything either, for that matter, nor Cruz. Hamilton started back in center, turned his body as the ball drifted, then stopped, took one look at where the ball was headed, then started jogging back to the dugout before it even landed.

Fans scrambled for the ball on the grassy hill beyond center. Joe Buck channeled his father. Fireworks went off beyond the stadium's walls, their light bouncing off the Gateway Arch. The Cardinals leapt out of the dugout in joy. Freese jogged around the bases - you can run a little slower on a home run than on a triple - and then met his teammates at home plate. The Cardinals had thrown the last, decisive punch.

The Rangers were spent. They had twice been one strike away from a championship and let it slip away. And they couldn't put up much of a fight as the Cardinals rode the wave to a comfortable win in Game 7. It was the Cardinals' 11th title, the second-highest total in baseball history. The Rangers are still looking for their first.

Game 6, 2011 World Series Overall Rank: 2 Top 10 Swing: 286 Top play: David Freese's game-tying triple (WPA of 54% for St. Louis) Loser's largest WE: 96 Bottom of the 9th, 1 out, Texas up 7-5, Albert Pujols batting for St. Louis Average LI: 1.71 Highest leverage moment: 6.47 (B10, 2 outs, runners on first and second, Texas up 9-8, Lance Berkman batting for St. Louis)