ST. Brett Anderson Jersey . LOUIS -- Jon Jay did not pick up a bat while missing five successive games with a sore wrist. Once he returned on Tuesday, the St. Louis outfielder quickly made up for lost time. Jay hit an RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning to break a tie and lead the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in a battle between the two World Series teams from last fall. "It just felt great to be back out there," Jay said. "Even better to come through." The Cardinals won their third in a row and fourth in the last five. Boston has lost three in a row. Jay blooped a hit to left off reliever Junichi Tazawa (1-3) to bring in former Red Sox A.J. Pierzynski with the winning run. All-Star reliever Pat Neshek (5-0) picked up the win by striking out the side in the eighth. St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal recorded his NL-leading 35th save in 39 chances. "Today was a big day for us," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "There were great at-bats from everybody." Especially Jay. "I didnt swing at all until today," Jay said. "But it feels good." St. Louis starter Lance Lynn gave up two runs on four hits over seven innings. Boston starter Rubby De La Rosa surrendered one run on six hits over six innings. Pierzynski started the winning rally with a two-out hit. He was signed by the Cardinals on July 26 after being released by the Red Sox on July 16. "Everyone wants me to say bad things about the Red Sox and Im not going to do that," Pierzynski said. "Im not bitter about what happened. It just didnt work. I dont have one hard feeling. The only thing is I didnt play well enough. I have nothing but respect for the organization and how they handled everything. I was proud to say I was a Red Sox." Oscar Taveras followed Pierzynskis hit with a single to set the stage for Jay. "They did a good job of putting the bat on the ball," Boston manager John Farrell said of the Cardinals. "It seemed like Junichi had the eighth inning well in hand with two out, two strikes and nobody on. Three consecutive base hits and that was the difference." WHERE ARE THE CHAMPS? Only 13 players remain from the Red Sox 25-man roster that won the World Series last fall. Through trades and attrition, the average age of the team dropped from 31 on Opening Day, to 28 on Tuesday. KNUCKLEBALL MAN The Red Sox have recalled knuckleball specialist Steven Wright from Triple-A Pawtucket. Wright will be making his first stint on the roster this season after four appearances last year. WACHA ON WAY BACK St. Louis RHP Michael Wacha began throwing on flat ground Tuesday in hopes of returning to the starting rotation in early September. He has not pitched since June 17 with a stress reaction in his right shoulder. TRAINERS ROOM Red Sox: Newly acquired OF Allen Craig was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sore ankle. He suffered the injury Friday while running to first on a ground out. OF Corey Brown was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket and in uniform for Tuesdays game. He was hitting .226 with 16 homers and 39 RBI. Shane Victorino underwent successful lumbar discectomy surgery in Los Angeles on Tuesday. ON DECK St. Louis RHP Shelby Miller (8-8, 4.14) will face close friend Joe Kelly (2-2, 4.37) in the second game of the three-game series on Wednesday. Kelly, who spent two-plus seasons with the Cardinals, will be making his first start for the Red Sox since being acquired in a trade July 31. The two served as Best Man in each others weddings in the off season. "Its going to be strange," Kelly said. "There will be some emotions there." The two sent good luck text messages to each other on Tuesday. Stephen Piscotty Jersey .Jeff Green, playing in his second preseason game after missing the first four because of a calf strain, had 18 points. The Celtics (3-3) shot 47.2 per cent from the floor and made 15 of 37 3-point attempts. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys .ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. http://www.athleticsrookiestore.com/Athletics-Walt-Weiss-Kids-Jersey/ . The Sioux Falls Canaries scored two in the seventh and three more in the eighth to come back from a 3-0 deficit and defeat the Winnipeg Goldeyes 5-3 in front of 6,769 at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Randy Carlyle could barely contain his relief after the Winter Classic. The hype was gone along with the all-access HBO "24/7" cameras that followed the Toronto Maple Leafs everywhere for the past month. "Finally, yeah," said the Leafs head coach. "Its been a long three weeks, thats for sure, with whats gone on with our hockey club and the way weve played, the inconsistencies that weve played to and the microscope that weve been under." Carlyle and the Leafs are used to being under a microscope just by virtue of playing in Toronto. But an inside look at the stretch in which they lost seven of nine games turned up the pressure even higher. "There are lot of things that are going on inside that are hard to deal with when youre always constantly under a camera or a microphone (is) under you," Carlyle said. But after beating the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout in front of an NHL-record crowd of 105,491 freezing fans at Michigan Stadium, those trials and tribulations could feel like a distant memory. Led by goaltender Jonathan Bernier, the Leafs have won three games in a row and have added a little vitamin C to their game. "Weve talked a lot about consistency and making sure to work on our game to become more consistent," captain Dion Phaneuf said. "I feel that weve played some good hockey the last little bit. Were trying to keep building it because we know thats been something thats plagued us a little bit. We feel better about our game right now." A large part of that has to do with Bernier, who has stopped 181 of 190 shots put on him since relieving James Reimer on Dec. 21. Hes 3-0-2 in that time, and Carlyle acknowledged it would be "foolish" to turn away from him now. "Jonathan Bernier has come in and given us a chance and given us an opportunity in games, and thats what we are looking for," the Leafs coach said. Its not all Bernier because goals have to come from somewhere. In the Winter Classic they came from the top line of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. This was the second game with that trio reunited, as Bozak returned Sunday after missing almost a month with a strained oblique. Bozak had three assists in his first game back and then a goal and the shootout winner in the Winter Classic. "I think that I was aable to play one game before, it was huge for me," Bozak said. Andrew Triggs Jersey. "Definitely would have been crazy, just coming back into this game. So I think being able to play the one before really helped me a lot." Having Bozak back also helps the Leafs, in general. His chemistry with Kessel and van Riemsdyk is undeniable, and his presence shifts Nazem Kadri, Peter Holland and Jay McClement back into more comfortable roles down the lineup. "Tyler is a player that our coaching staff trusts, pretty simple," Carlyle said. "When coaches trust people, they put them in situations where you believe the player will get the job done." Carlyle went so far as to call Bozak a "model for the younger players to follow." "He gets inside, he wins his share of one-on-one battles, very strong in the faceoff circle, and hes got the hockey sense," Carlyle said. "The puck follows him around." Puck possession is one thing the Leafs could stand to improve on Saturday against the New York Rangers and beyond. They were outshot 43-26 by Detroit in the Winter Classic, as Red Wings coach Mike Babcock praised his team for holding on to the puck for much of regulation and overtime. But as the Leafs have done much of the year, they pulled out two points despite being badly outshot. Opportunistic offence and strong goaltending allowed them to reach playoff position early and hang on despite some struggles, so it was only fitting that helped them win the NHLs signature regular-season event. The Winter Classic represented the end of a difficult journey for the Leafs, who made the most out of the spotlight in the end. "It is a lot leading up to it. I think its tough on the players, its tough on the coaches," general manager Dave Nonis said. "But I also think that it created an atmosphere that made it more than just a game. I think both teams raised their level of play. I know our team did. I think thats the hardest weve competed for a long time. "When you look at over 100,000 in the building, its impossible not to play harder." Seeing how hard and well the Leafs played gave Nonis some fuel to be optimistic about the near future. "From our standpoint I hope its, I wouldnt say a turning point, but maybe the genesis of consistent games where we work hard for three periods," he said. ' ' '