Nelson Cruz slammed a three-run homer in the 11th inning to seal a 7-3 victory for the Texas Rangers over the Detroit Tigers Wednesday, moving the visitors within one win of a repeat trip to the World Series. Cruz, who crushed a winning grand slam homer in extra-innings to give Texas a victory in Game Two, delivered the decisive blow again to hand the Rangers a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Texas can clinch a spot in the Fall Classic on Thursday with a Game Five victory, also at Comerica Park. Cruz has been a one-man wrecking crew for the Rangers, pounding four homers in four games and driving in nine runs as well as etching his name in the record books as the only player to hit two extra-inning homers in the same post-season series. This time the right fielder's heroics came after Mike Napoli had broken open a 3-3 deadlock with a base hit to centre that scored Josh Hamilton, who had led off the 11th with a double. When Cruz was not scoring runs, the flashy Dominican was robbing them, denying Detroit a go-ahead score in the bottom of the eighth by throwing out Miguel Cabrera at home with a perfect dart from right field. “Thank you Nelson Cruz,” Rangers manager Ron Washington told reporters. “We certainly needed what he gave us. “I don't judge Nelson just because he hits balls out of the ball park. He's a complete player.” Cardinals lead 2-1 In St Louis, a fiery Chris Carpenter pitched his way out of danger against bitter rivals Milwaukee to earn a 4-3 victory for St. Louis Wednesday that gave the Cardinals an edge in the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals jumped out early with four runs in the first inning against Milwaukee ace Yovani Gallardo and veteran Carpenter held firm under pressure as St. Louis took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series heading into Game Four in St. Louis on Thursday. “The first inning was huge tonight,” St. Louis infielder David Freese told reporters. “(The starters) battled, but they're not going to have their best stuff every game. Tonight was a big game.” With bad blood between Carpenter and Milwaukee stemming from a regular season confrontation, and fueled by disparaging comments from the Brewers prior to the series, the big right-hander was squarely in the spotlight. After Carpenter allowed two runs in the second inning and a solo home run to Mark Kotsay in the third to cut the lead to one, he struck out Rickie Weeks with two outs and two men on in the fifth to put a stamp on his emotional night. Carpenter walked three batters and allowed six hits during his five innings and the St. Louis bullpen dominated the rest of the way, closing with 12 straight outs to end the game. Four different relievers contributed to the gem with Jason Motte handling the final 1 1/3 innings and striking out three batters. “When that phone rings we're ready,” Motte said. “We have that mentality that when we're called we get our arms ready and battle our butts off. (Carpenter) was able to keep it at 4-3 and the bullpen was able to shut it down from there.”
