St. Louis @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 23, 2011 ) St. Louis 0, Texas 4

THE STORY: The St. Louis Cardinals have led the World Series on two occasions, only to see the Texas Rangers respond both times. The result is a series tied at 2-2 heading into Monday’s pivotal Game 5 at Rangers Ballpark before the series moves back to St. Louis. The Rangers knotted the series Sunday when lefthander Derek Holland pitched 8 1/3 innings of two-hit ball in a 4-0 victory. The series is now a best-of-3 with top pitchers Chris Carpenter and C.J. Wilson meeting in a Game 1 rematch won by the Cardinals.

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, Fox.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH C.J. Wilson (0-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (1-0, 3.00 ERA)

Wilson is 0-3 with a 7.17 ERA in four postseason starts after losing Game 1 when he gave up three runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. Wilson walked a season-high six batters and has issued 14 bases on balls in 21 1/3 postseason innings.

Carpenter is 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA in four postseason outings and gave up two runs and five hits in six innings in Game 1. The runs off Carpenter were courtesy of Mike Napoli’s two-run homer. Carpenter’s victory was his eighth career postseason win, surpassing Bob Gibson’s franchise record.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS: Lance Berkman had both St. Louis hits on Sunday and has three multihit games in the series while batting .467. Albert Pujols was unable to follow up his epic Game 3 performance (five hits, three homers, six RBIs), going hitless in four at-bats. David Freese also was hitless to end his postseason hitting streak at 13 games. No. 4 hitter Matt Holliday went 0-for-4 and is batting .133 with zero RBIs in the series.

ABOUT THE RANGERS: Napoli hit a big three-run homer Sunday for his second of the series. He has driven in seven runs in nine at-bats. Josh Hamilton had a run-scoring double to drive in the first run but is just 2-for-16 in the series. Hot-hitting Adrian Beltre was hitless in four at-bats after banging out four hits on Sunday. Holland’s solid outing gave the Texas bullpen some much-needed rest as only Neftali Feliz was used to get the final two outs.

FINAL PITCH: Napoli is the first catcher to hit two homers in the World Series since Mike Piazza for the New York Mets in 2000.