ST. LOUIS — Carlos Beltran, Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals are going to the World Series — not even Clayton Kershaw could stop them this year.
ST. LOUIS — Carlos Beltran, Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals are going to the World Series — not even Clayton Kershaw could stop them this year.
Beltran and the Cardinals stunned the Dodgers’ ace with a four-run third inning, Wacha was again magnificent on the mound and St. Louis advanced to its second World Series in three seasons by roughing up the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-0 in Game 6 of the NL championship series Friday night.
Wacha, a rookie, was selected MVP of the series after throwing 13 2/3 scoreless innings and beating Kershaw twice in the NLCS.
Matt Carpenter sparked St. Louis’ big third inning with a one-out double on the 11th pitch of his at-bat. Beltran singled him home and the Cardinals quickly removed all the suspense surrounding a team that squandered a 3-1 series lead in the NLCS last fall against San Francisco.
“I’m so happy right now. We did it as a team,” Beltran said. “We fought hard, we worked hard all season long and thank god we’re here.”
Game 1 of the World Series is Wednesday at the winner of the ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals won their 19th NL pennant and will be trying for their third title since 2006, last winning in 2011.
The glamorous Dodgers, with the second-highest payroll in baseball at $220 million, failed to reach the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 1988.
After losing Game 5 in Los Angeles, the Cardinals turned to Wacha once again.
The right-hander was even better in outpitching Kershaw for the second time this series.
It was 52 degrees at game time, a 23-degree drop from the Kershaw-Wacha matchup in Game 2 six days earlier, and Kershaw never warmed up.
The top NL Cy Young Award candidate was knocked out of a start for the first time this season without finishing the fifth.
Beltran had three hits and drove in two runs while facing Kershaw and made a spectacular catch in right field, helping him advance to the World Series for the first time in his 16-year career.
Perhaps showing the Cardinals weren’t stressed by the possibility of a second straight postseason meltdown, Games 1 and 5 starter Joe Kelly had a post-national anthem staredown against Dodgers reserve outfielder Scott Van Slyke that was broken up by a fed-up home plate umpire Greg Gibson after several minutes.
Kelly blinked first, all in good fun but, when it counted, St. Louis wouldn’t budge.
The Cardinals jumped on Kershaw in the third, batting around. After Wacha grounded out, Carpenter doubled in a gritty at-bat. Beltran singled him home for the game’s first run. With two outs, Yadier Molina added an RBI single, Shane Robinson drove in two runs with a single in his first career postseason start after replacing slumping Jon Jay — and advanced to second base on Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig’s first of two errors in the Cardinals’ big innings.
The Cuban defector also struck out twice and was booed heartily. Hanley Ramirez, a last-minute addition to the Dodgers’ lineup, went 0 for 3 while playing with a broken rib.