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All You Need To Know About The All Tied Up World Series

Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals slumps as Boston Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli celebrates Sunday night. Wong was picked off at first base to end the game and the Cardinals' hopes of winning. Boston's 4-2 victory means the World Series is tied at 2-2.
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Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals slumps as Boston Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli celebrates Sunday night. Wong was picked off at first base to end the game and the Cardinals' hopes of winning. Boston's 4-2 victory means the World Series is tied at 2-2.
From 'Morning Edition': NPR's Tom Goldman reports on Sunday's World Series game

The score Sunday night was:

Boston Red Sox 4; St. Louis Cardinals 2.

Which means the World Series is:

Tied at two games apiece.

The big moment Sunday:

Came in the sixth inning, when Boston outfielder Jonny Gomes hit a three-run homer.

The big mistake:

Came in the ninth inning, when St. Louis pinch runner Kolten Wong took too big a lead off first base and was picked with a throw from Boston pitcher Koji Huehara. That ended the game with the potential tying run at bat. On Twitter, Wong tells Cardinals fans that "I'm sorry ... I go out everyday playing this game as hard as I can and leaving everything on the field."

Wong's mistake means that for the second night in a row, there was (in the words of NPR's Tom Goldman) an "are you kidding me?" ending:

Saturday's game, as we reported, finished like no other World Series game ever has, apparently — with umpires saying that Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks had obstructed St. Louis' Allen Craig on the basepath. The umps then ruled that Craig was safe at home plate, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 win.

Game 5 is tonight, starting just after 8 p.m. ET on Fox. If it's another close one with dramatics in the ninth inning, there will again be a lot of very tired fans Tuesday morning.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.