St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and Trevor Rosenthal celebrate after Game 6 of the National League baseball championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 9-0 to win the series.ST. LOUIS – Carlos Beltran and the Cardinals stunned Clayton Kershaw with a four-run third inning, rookie Michael Wacha was again magnificent on the mound and St. Louis advanced to its second World Series in three seasons by roughing up the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-0 in Game 6 of the National League championship series Friday night.
Matt Carpenter sparked St. Louis’ big inning with a one-out double on the 11th pitch of his at-bat. Beltran singled him home and the Cardinals quickly removed all the suspense surrounding a team that squandered a 3-1 series lead in the NLCS last fall against San Francisco.
Game 1 of the World Series is Wednesday at the ALCS winner — the Boston Red Sox or Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals will be trying for their third title since 2006, last winning in 2011.
Wacha was even better in outpitching Kershaw for the second time this series. He was selected MVP of the series after giving up two hits in seven innings Friday.
It was 52 degrees at game time, a 23-degree drop from the Kershaw-Wacha matchup in Game 2 six days earlier, and Kershaw never warmed up.