Costly flubs by pitchers ruin Tigers' chances

ST. LOUIS -- Pitchers weren't the only ones who threw away Detroit's chances to win its first World Series since 1984.

With five errors in five games, they did do the most damage as St. Louis beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Friday to win the World Series in five games.

The Series was marked by a number of fielding errors, including the five by Detroit pitchers.

In the fourth inning, right-hander Justin Verlander cleanly fielded pitcher Jeff Weaver's bunt, pivoted and threw wide of third baseman Brandon Inge allowing St. Louis to score the tying run and later a go-ahead run.

"I couldn't really believe I did it," Verlander said. "Being an athlete on the mound is something I've prided myself on, getting myself out of jams.

Justin Verlander commits two of the five errors by Detroit pitchers in the Series. (AP)

"I just messed up."

Verlander's error was his second of the Series, the team's eighth and the fifth by a pitcher -- two more than a pitching staff ever has had in an entire World Series. In 162 regular-season games, the Tigers pitching staff combined for just 15 errors.

"In the American League you don't handle a lot of bunts and stuff," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "We knew we were going to do that this series, so we worked on it during the time frame we were off and quite frankly we didn't execute it during the World Series.

"I'm responsible and I accept that responsibility. It's my job to have my team ready."

It was the second straight night that a pitcher's throwing error helped the Cardinals win. On Thursday, Fernando Rodney fielded pinch-hitter So Taguchi's sacrifice bunt and rushed a throw that sailed over the head of Placido Polanco covering at first base. That scored David Eckstein, who had reached on a fly ball that center fielder Curtis Granderson didn't get to because he slipped while trying to make the catch.

Rodney's wild throw sparked Leyland to look ahead to next season. Leyland said he is going to water the infield grass during spring training when pitchers practice making throws after fielding bunts.

The infield didn't appear to be wet in Game 5, but the good conditions didn't help Verlander, who also had two wild pitches in the first inning - tying another World Series record.

But Verlander's bad throw in the fourth wasn't the first error of the game. That came in the second inning when Inge blew a throw to first base off a ball hit by Eckstein.