BOSTON — The mound of players quickly grew on the infield at Fenway Park.

Like they have all year, the Boston Red Sox came together.

And now all of New England is celebrating.

The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Wednesday night to clinch the World Series title before a boisterous crowd of 38,447 that rarely sat down.

They defeated St. Louis four games to two.

The Red Sox rebounded under first-year manager John Farrell from a last-place finish in 2012 to claiming their third World Series title in 10 years,

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“Given where we came from, a lot has happened in the last 13 months,” Farrell said. “We have a special group. Their overall will to win was never more evident than in this postseason.”

Shane Victorino drove in four runs and Stephen Drew added a solo home run to lead the Red Sox.

David Ortiz, who batted .687 (11 for 16) in the Series, was named the Most Valuable Player. He didn’t get a hit Wednesday but was walked four times, three of them intentional.

“Nobody gave us any chance,” Ortiz said. “This may be the most special World Series I’ve been a part of.”

The expected pitching duel between John Lackey and Michael Wacha didn’t last long. The Red Sox knocked Wacha out in the fourth inning.

Lackey pitched 62/3 innings, allowing one run on nine hits.

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“John pitched like he could. He was a stud,” catcher David Ross said.

Lackey came out firing fastballs between 92 and 94 mph and the Cardinals hit some hard balls, but they went down 1-2-3.

Wacha began his outing by putting away Jacoby Ellsbury on three pitches. Dustin Pedroia jumped on a first-pitch fastball and hit it just foul of the left-field foul pole. He grounded out on the next pitch.

Ortiz came up and fell behind 0-and-2 before fouling off pitches and working a nine-pitch walk. Wacha struck out Mike Napoli but his pitch count hit 18.

Lackey was greeted in the second by Allen Craig (single off the Monster) and Yadier Molina (single to left). Lackey got two flyouts and went ahead of Jon Jay before throwing a wild pitch to put runners on second and third. Lackey struck out Jay, swinging at a curve.

Boston led off the second by putting its first two batters on. Jonny Gomes singled to center and Victorino walked. But Wacha escaped with two foul popups (Xander Bogaerts and Drew) and a strikeout (David Ross).

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Boston struck in the third. Ellsbury led off with a single and reached second on Pedroia’s groundout.

Ortiz was intentionally walked and Napoli followed with his second strikeout.

Gomes was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Victorino. He worked a 2-1 count before drilling a fastball high off the Monster. Gomes hustled around the bases, just beating Matt Holiday’s throw home and Boston led 3-0.

“Shane Victorino has a flair for the dramatic,” Farrell said.

Two more St. Louis runners reached in the fourth with one out, on a Craig single and a rare error on Pedroia, who could not handle Molina’s bouncer. But Lackey got a lineout (Matt Adams) and a strikeout (David Freese).

The Red Sox broke it open in the fourth, led off by, of all things, a Drew home run into the Red Sox bullpen. Drew was batting .078 9 (4 for 51) in the postseason before his smash made it 4-0.

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Ellsbury doubled with one out and, with two outs, Ortiz was intentionally walked. That ended Wacha’s night.

Lance Lynn entered and Napoli singled in Ellsbury. Gomes walked and Victorino came up with the bases loaded again. He singled in Ortiz and the Red Sox led 6-0.

Realizing that Boston had allowed over five runs in the postseason only once, the Red Sox looked in good shape.

Lackey got into a jam in the seventh, allowing an RBI single by Beltran.

Junichi Tazawa relieved. Brandon Workman pitched the eighth and Koji Uehara finished it.

“This was special,” Pedroia said. “Everyone cared about each other so much.”

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He then referred to the Boston Marathon bombings. “Stuff happened in the city,” he said, “and we wanted to do something special to help.”

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: @ClearTheBases


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