David Freese homered and drove in four runs and Edwin Jackson tossed six solid innings as the St. Louis Cardinals forced a deciding fifth game of the National League Division Series with a 5-3 home triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
After his two-run double gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, Freese deposited a fastball from Roy Oswalt (0-1) over the fence in center field for a two-run shot in the sixth.
Lance Berkman had an RBI triple in the first inning for St. Louis, which will look to win the series when it shifts back to the City of Brotherly Love for Game 5 on Friday.
After yielding two runs and three hits on seven pitches in the first inning, Jackson (1-0) settled down and allowed just two more hits the rest of the way. Jackson, who was making his first career postseason start, had faced the Phillies in the 2008 World Series as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Four relievers bridged the gap to Jason Motte, who retired the side in order in the ninth to seal the win.
Chase Utley had an RBI triple and came around to score on Hunter Pence's single in the first inning for NL East champion Philadelphia, which set a franchise record with 102 wins this season.
Oswalt permitted five runs on six hits in six innings to take the loss.
Philadelphia | St. Louis | |
Roy Oswalt | Player | Edwin Jackson |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 6.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 4 |
6 | Hits | 5 |
7.50 | ERA | 3.00 |
Philadelphia | St. Louis | |
Chase Utley | Player | David Freese |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 4 |
0 | HR | 1 |
4 | TB | 6 |
.667 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Philadelphia | 7 | 0 | 10 | .219 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
St. Louis | 6 | 1 | 11 | .200 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |