GAME 3: YANKEES 5 CARDINALS 4

The Cardinals struck out 18 times in losing at home in a close battle against Pedro Martinez and the Yankees. The Cards were winning most of the way but Noah Lowry gave up four solo shots and five runs overall to take the loss in his World Series debut. St Louis got the scoring started with a run in the first inning. Alex Rodriguez tied the score in the third with his first of two solo home runs. Victor Martinez rebutted with a two run shot in the fourth to put the Cardinals up 3-1. The Cards missed a scoring opportunity in the fifth when Ichiro Suzuki reached third base with one out before Pedro Martinez struck out both Griffey and Victor Martinez to strand the runner. Derrek Lee also struck out in the inning and whiffed in all four of his plate appearances, stranding four runners in scoring position. In the sixth, ARod doubled and scored but the Cardinals got the run back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Placido Polanco. The Yankees closed the gap in the seventh with a Coco Crisp solo shot and ARod tied the game an inning later with his second homer. Two batters later, the Yankees took the lead with a two-out, two-strike HR from Randy Winn. Mariano Rivera came on to strike out the side in the ninth to give his Yankees a 2-1 advantage in the series.

W - Pedro Martinez (1-0)
L - Noah Lowry (0-1)
S - Mariano Rivera (1)
HR - Rodriguez 2 (2), Winn (2), Crisp (1), Martinez (1)
MVP - Alex Rodriguez: 3-4, 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R