Game 3 of the 2011 World Series was exactly as advertised: The St. Louis Cardinals nearly lost two separate five-run leads before securing one they wouldn’t relinquish. That last one came thanks to none other than Albert Pujols, who drove in six in the process of having the first three-home-run World Series game since Reggie Jackson in 1977. The final score of 16-7 came only after the Cardinals scored in each of the last five innings.
Pujols’s home runs, which came in consecutive at-bats, were only the end of the Cardinals’ scoring—they’d already gotten two doubles and four RBI from Yadier Molina, as well as a home run from erstwhile World Series hero Allen Craig and two more RBI from NLCS MVP David Freese. And they needed those runs, too—trouble from Kyle Lohse and Fernando Salas led to six runs in two innings for the Rangers, who got to 5-3 and 8-6 in consecutive innings before the Cardinals’ four-run six put them away.
Matt Harrison takes the hard-luck loss for the Rangers, who also used Scott Feldman, Alexi Ogando, Mike Gonzalez, Mark Lowe, and Darren Oliver. The Cardinals ended up using Fernando Salas, Lance Lynn, Octavio Dotel, and Mitchell Boggs .