Anthony Reyes pitched eight brilliant innings as the St Louis Cardinals cruised to a 7-2 victory against the Detroit Tigers in the opening game of the World Series on Saturday.
Albert Pujols took advantage of a miscommunication and homered in the third inning, while Scott Rolen homered and doubled for St Louis, who won a thrilling Game Seven over the New York Mets on Thursday in the National League Championship Series and did not arrive in the Motor City until early Friday morning.
Detroit had not played since clinching the America League pennant against the Oakland Athletics last Saturday and looked rusty, mustering just four hits and committing two errors as their seven-game winning streak in the post-season came to an end.
In the first battle of Game One rookies in World Series history, Reyes got the best of the more heralded Justin Verlander, allowing two runs and four hits.
The 25-year-old Reyes won five games during the regular season, the fewest for a Game One starter in the Fall Classic.
His 5.08 ERA was the second highest but to St Louis fans, he may as well have been Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, who struck out 17 and shut out Detroit in Game One of the 1968 World Series.
After yielding a run-scoring single in the first to Carlos Guillen, the rookie retired the next 17 batters before Magglio Ordonez singled past second baseman Ronnie Belliard with one out in the seventh.
He walked just one and struck out four, throwing 66 of 90 pitches for strikes, before departing after yielding a leadoff homer to Craig Monroe in the ninth.
Pujols took advantage of a miscommunication between Detroit manager Jim Leyland and his pitcher in the third, jumping on a first-pitch fastball from Verlander and planting it in the right field seats for a two-run blast that increased the lead to 4-1.
After Chris Duncan had doubled homered Yadier Molina earlier in the frame to make it 2-1, Leyland wanted to pitch around the National League's 2005 MVP, who hit .397 with runners in scoring positions during the season.
A slumping Rolen had tied the game with his first homer and RBI of the post-season in the second, belting a first-pitch fastball over the left field fence. He contributed a ground-rule double in the middle of a three-run uprising in the sixth that gave the Cards a 7-1 lead.
Verlander, who departed after Rolen's double, gave up seven runs and six hits in five-plus frames, walking two and striking out eight.
Detroit will try to rebound on Sunday night with lefthander Kenny Rogers, who has pitched 15 scoreless innings over two starts in the post-season. He will be opposed by former Tiger Jeff Weaver.
