MILWAUKEE - The St. Louis Cardinals advanced to the World Series on Sunday after a 12-6 victory over Milwaukee in Game Six sealed the National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals will play American League champion Texas, who travel to St. Louis for Wednesday's opener of the best-of-seven Major League Baseball championship.

St. Louis scored four runs in the first, one in the second and another four in the third inning to seize a 9-4 lead and was never headed as it clinched the series 4-2 and booked its first return to the Fall Classic since winning it in 2006.

Cardinals starting pitcher Edwin Jackson went only two innings, but as they did all series long, their relievers shut the Brewers down to secure the win.

Third baseman David Freese, who belted a three-run blast in the first inning, was named NLCS Most Valuable Player after notching three home runs, nine RBIs and hitting .545.

Freese's homer followed an RBI single by Lance Berkman to put the Cardinals ahead 4-0.

The outburst continued a St. Louis trend as the Cardinals scored first in every game, putting runs on the board four times in the first inning during the series and scoring in the second inning of the other two games.

"They were unbelievable in the first inning," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "We couldn't get away with anything. We just never had a chance to get into our comfort zone, get into our rhythm. They just didn't let up on us."

The early action felt like a home run derby as six were hit in the first three innings and nine of the first 10 runs came from round-trippers.

Corey Hart homered in the first for Milwaukee, Rafael Furcal matched his solo homer in the second, while in the Brewers' half of the second, Rickie Weeks and Jonathan Lucroy cleared the fences to bring the home team within one at 5-4.

Albert Pujols's blast leading off the third made it 6-4 and the Cardinals added three more runs on a sacrifice fly by Nick Punto and a two-run single by pinch-hitter Allen Craig.

After a sloppy showing in Friday's Game Five in St. Louis, in which Milwaukee committed four errors in a 7-1 loss, the Brewers were once again loose in the field with three miscues.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa used five relievers to secure the victory.

In all, St. Louis relievers pitched a remarkable 28 and 2/3 innings against just 24 and 1/3 innings by the team's starters.

Reuters

(China Daily 10/18/2011 page24)