Rangers get even with Cards

ST. LOUIS - Josh Hamilton and the Texas hitters looked lost. They chased pitches that bounced, broke their bats and seemed totally overmatched.

Until the ninth inning, that is.

Down to their last three outs, and in danger of dropping into a serious World Series deficit, the Rangers rallied against St. Louis' vaunted bullpen.

Hamilton and Michael Young lifted sacrifice flies in the ninth and Texas startled the Cardinals, 2-1, last night to even the Series at 1-all.

"It wasn't a Series-saving rally, but it was huge," said Ian Kinsler, whose single and steal set up the comeback.

In a city excited by a Rally Squirrel, it was Groundhog Day - almost.

For the second straight night, Cardinals pinch-hitter Allen Craig greeted reliever Alexi Ogando with a go-ahead single. This time, Craig did it in the seventh. In Game 1, his hit in the sixth sent the Cards to a 3-2 win.

Said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa: "It was almost a great story for us, turned out to be a greater one for them."

Now, after a travel day, Texas will host Game 3 tomorrow night. Matt Harrison is set to start for the Rangers against Kyle Lohse.

"It would have been hard," Hamilton said of the possibility of being 0-2. "We would have been comfortable going back to our place, having three games. They're just like we are, never say die, til the last out is made. It makes it fun."

Texas has not lost two straight games since Aug. 23-25. The Rangers sure waited a while to save themselves on this night that began as a duel between starters Colby Lewis, of Texas, and the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia, the first Mexican-born starter in the World Series since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Kinsler opened the ninth with a bloop single against closer Jason Motte. Next up was Elvis Andrus, whose tremendous play at shortstop kept the game scoreless much earlier. Kinsler, though, wasn't about to wait - he stole second, sliding in just ahead of Yadier Molina's excellent throw.

Andrus followed with a single to center, sending Kinsler to third. And when the relay throw got away for a moment, Andrus scampered to second.

La Russa, who's been making all the right moves this October, brought in lefty Arthur Rhodes to face Hamilton. But the slumping slugger, slowed throughout the postseason by a groin injury, hit a solid fly ball that scored Kinsler and moved Andrus to third.

La Russa went to his bullpen again, bringing in Lance Lynn to face Young. The steady Texas veteran did his job, lofting a fly ball to rightfield that sent Andrus scampering home.

Then it was Rangers manager Ron Washington's turn. He signaled for closer Neftali Feliz, who worked around a leadoff walk to earn the save. Mike Adams got the win.

The Cardinals broke through against Lewis in the seventh when David Freese singled with one out and took third on Nick Punto's two-out single. La Russa pulled Garcia and put up Craig, who was injured for most of the season.

Washington then went to Ogando. After a first-pitch foul, Craig lined a 96 mph heater over Kinsler at second base for the go-ahead run.

Until the ninth, the Texas hitters were flailing.

Hamilton, the reigning AL MVP, seemed to be wearing down with every swing in his first three at-bats.

Hamilton shattered his bat the first time up and slowly jogged to first base. Later, he weakly waved and appeared overmatched as he struck out on three pitches. That left him with an 0-for-16 Series slump dating to last October.

Hamilton's teammates were equally feeble. Maybe it was because none of the Texas starters had ever faced Garcia, maybe it was carry-over from the stress that began in last year's World Series wipeout against San Francisco.

The acrobatic Andrus made a sensational play in the fifth to keep the game scoreless.

After a two-out single by Punto and a walk to the light-hitting Garcia, Rafael Furcal slapped a hard grounder up the middle. Andrus dived to his left to stop it on the edge of the outfield grass, got to his knees and flipped the ball with his glove about 25 feet to second baseman Kinsler, who barely beat Garcia to the bag for a forceout.

Garcia and Lewis dominated at the outset, and no one got a hit until Furcal doubled with two outs in the third. Before that, the closest anyone came was Jon Jay, whose bunt danced along the third-base line chalk before trickling foul.

Perhaps both sides could have used some hitting tips from Stan Musial. A month shy of his 91st birthday, Stan the Man was sitting in a Busch suite. The Cardinals Hall of Famer was shown on the video board and drew a big cheer.