Red Sox Win Game One Of World Series, Defeat Cardinals, 8-1

The Boston Red Sox captured the first game of the 2013 Major League Baseball World Series on Wednesday night, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston struck first, and early, plating three runs in the bottom half of the first inning, courtesy of a one out, three-run double by Mike Napoli.

In the frame, David Ortiz came to the plate with one out, and runners on first and second base, grounding a ball to St. Louis second baseman Matt Carpenter, who flipped to shortstop Pete Kozma, for the force out on Dustin Pedroia. Kozma apparently didn't catch the throw, but Pedroia was still called out by second base umpire Dana Demuth, who ruled that Kozma was transferring the ball from his glove to his hand.

The umpires convened however, and ruled that Pedroia was safe, extending the inning, and allowing Napoli to later come through with his bases loaded double.

View the Kozma error at second, courtesy of mlb.com.

The Red Sox added two more runs in the bottom of the second, courtesy of an RBI single by Pedroia, as well as a sacrifice fly by David Ortiz, extending the lead to 5-0.

The early lead, as big as it was, could have been even bigger, if not for Cardinals' outfielder Carlos Beltran, who robbed Ortiz of a grand slam home run, on his sacrifice fly, which scored David Ross.

Boston added two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Ortiz hit one where nobody could catch it, and got a curtain call afterwards.

The Red Sox put up one more insurance run in the eighth, as they went on to the seven-run win, and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-game series.

The Red Sox were led at the plate by Pedroia and Ortiz, who had two hits apiece, while Napoli contributed three RBI's.

The Cardinals, in a losing cause, got a solo home run in the ninth from Matt Holliday, for their only run of the game.

The winning pitcher was Jon Lester, while Adam Wainwright suffered the loss.

View the game box score.

View a postgame recap, courtesy of mlb.com.

Game two will again be at Fenway Park on Thursday night, with rookie Michael Wacha getting the start for St. Louis, while John Lackey will be twirling for Boston.

First-pitch is scheduled for 8:07 (edt).