BOSTON – Craig Breslow couldn't find the plate.
Then he couldn't find third base.
The Red Sox reliever gave up a walk to load the bases and then committed one of two errors during a two-run sacrifice fly as Boston squandered David Ortiz's go-ahead homer and lost 4-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night in Game 2 of the World Series.
One night after the Cardinals made three errors — and a bunch of other mistakes — in an 8-1 loss to open the Series, it was the Red Sox who threw away Game 2. Breslow and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia each made an error on Matt Carpenter's seventh-inning fly ball that turned a one-run deficit into a 3-2 Cardinals lead.
John Lackey walked David Freese with one out in the seventh and then Jon Jay singled to chase the Red Sox starter. In came Breslow, who had not yet allowed a run in seven postseason appearances this year.
With David Descalso up, Jay and pinch-runner Pete Kozma worked a double steal without drawing a throw because Saltalamacchia had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. After Descalso walked to load the bases, Carpenter hit a medium-depth fly ball that Jonny Gomes moved over to field.
But the throw home was up the first-base line and Saltalamacchia couldn't handle it. That allowed Kozma, who had two errors in Game 1, to score, and Jay to take third.
Breslow was backing up the play and double-pumped before sailing his throw to third over shortstop Stephen Drew's head; it bounced into the stands to allow another run to score and give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Descalso was left at third, and he scored on Carlos Beltran's single to make it 4-2.
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