ARLINGTON, Texas • Before Game 5's decisive eighth inning devolved into the bizarre with a relay of relievers that even had the Cardinals' dugout confused, it hinged around a ground ball that could have been the Cardinals' salvation.
They were mere inches from an escape.
Cardinals lefty Marc Rzepczynski got to face the hitter he wanted, got the pitch to go where he wanted, and got the grounder that he wanted. It just didn't go where he needed it to go. David Murphy clipped a sharp grounder back to the mound that Rzepczynski could not field. The ball caromed off him and slipped past Nick Punto's hands, turning a would-be double play into a bases-loaded mess.
Instead of getting out of the inning, the Cards were left to face an inning without the right reliever warming up and the wrong batter for Rzepczynski to face. That zaniness and the fallout led to the Rangers' 4-2 victory. A double play could have avoided all of it.
"I threw the pitch exactly where I wanted it to go," Rzepczynski said. "He hit it on the ground. I wanted to get that big double play in the key situation. I threw the pitch where I wanted. Unfortunately, it went three or four inches to my left. ... If I'm righthanded, I catch it cleanly."
If he was righthanded, it would have made more sense with what happened next in the inning.
The Cardinals packed a lot into one frame of World Series Game 5, a loss that sends the Series back to Busch Stadium with the Rangers a win away from clinching the championship. In the eighth inning, the Rangers snapped a 2-2 tie with Mike Napoli's bases-loaded double off Rzepczynski. The Cards followed that double with a curious pitching move, then a more curious pitching move and then an explanation that was the most curious of all.
In his postgame comments to the media, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa cited a miscommunication between him and the bullpen that not only meant closer Jason Motte was not available to face Napoli, but also that had rookie Lance Lynn warmed up for a game he wasn't supposed to be in. Without that double play, Napoli hit with the bases loaded.
Without Motte warmed up, La Russa was left with Rzepczynski to face the righthanded hitting slugger, who a day earlier had launched the Rangers to a win with a homer.
"Well, what happened was twice the bullpen didn't hear Motte's name," La Russa explained. "They heard ‘Rzepczynski' and they didn't get Motte (ready). I looked up there and Motte wasn't going. So I called back for Motte, and they got Lynn up. ... I don't know if it was noisy."
Unaware of the confusion initially, Rzepczynski said he wasn't fazed by having to face Napoli. Had he retired Murphy, or had the Rangers done the obvious move and pinch-hit for the lefty, Rzepczynski was going to stay in the game. With Murphy out, the lefty would have pitched around Napoli with a base open and then faced the No. 9 hitter, a lefty. The Cardinals had proven comfortable using him against righties before.
But because the bullpen wasn't ready to react when Murphy reached on the ricochet grounder, Rzepczynski had to face Napoli. The Rangers catcher had a .619 slugging percentage against lefties this year, but he was one for five in his career against Rzepczynski. The Cards' lefty had a breaking pitch that he could get where the Cards wanted to pitch Napoli, catcher Yadier Molina said. He just didn't get either of his pitches to the desired spot.
"He left two pitches up," Molina said.
Napoli didn't miss the second one.
The Rangers' catcher lined a ball into the right-center gap that scored two runs, the two runs that decided the game.
Then things got weirder. An inning that started with veteran Octavio Dotel allowing a leadoff double ended with the Cardinals scrambling to get the right pitcher in the inning. Lynn was not supposed to appear at all in Games 4 or 5 after his workload in Game 3. Yet, he warmed up and, much to La Russa's surprise, trotted in to relieve Rzepczynski. With an unexpected reliever, La Russa had Lynn intentionally walk Ian Kinsler to avoid throwing a full-strength pitch. That also bought the additional time needed for Motte to warmup so he could finally enter the game. Motte got the mound three batters and two runs too late.
"I don't know what the plan was," Lynn said. "The inning kind of jumped up on us. We weren't able to get out of it until Motte."
Dotel took the loss after retiring one batter. Rzepczynski pitched one-third of inning and allowed two hits. Motte got the out that got them out of the inning. And La Russa had some explaining to do. All of it was inches away from not happening.
"If I come up with that (grounder) cleanly, we turn two," Rzepczynski said. "That's how the game was going for us. One break here or there and it's a different story. The ball went to my left side. It's completely different if it doesn't."
