The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 Thursday night in St. Louis to take a commanding 3-1 lead in Major League Baseballs' World Series championships.
The game was tied 4-4 in the eighth inning when the Cardinals' David Eckstein hit a long fly ball that glanced off the outstretched glove of Detroit outfielder Craig Monroe. The hit allowed teammate Aaron Miles to reach home plate and score the winning run.
Detroit took an early 3-0 lead, but hurt its own cause with a number of fielding miscues.
St. Louis can clinch the World Series Friday in game five of the post-season classic. It would be the Cardinals first World Series title since 1982, and avenge the franchise's 1968 collapse against the Tigers, when they lost three straight games after taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.