Cardinals Give the Ball to Wacha With Confidence Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press Michael Wacha has not lost in four starts this postseason, striking out 28 batters and allowing only three runs over 27 innings. BOSTON - Adam Wainwright had just lost for the second time in five games in this World Series, leaving the St. Louis Cardinals in a desperate situation. They will need to win two games in Boston, if they are going to beat the surging Red Sox. But Wainwright appeared calm after he and the Cardinals lost Game 5 on Monday, seemingly unconcerned about what lay ahead. He reminded everyone that Michael Wacha would be pitching next. Wacha, as a 22-year-old rookie, had already earned the trust of his teammates. He had already won a playoff elimination game on the road, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 4 of the National League division series. He had already outdueled one of the best pitchers in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers" Clayton Kershaw - twice - in the N.L. Championship Series. And he had already won a World Series game in Boston, too. Now the Cardinals will turn to him for Game 6 on Wednesday at Fenway Park with their season on the line. "He's been amazing for us this postseason," Wainwright said Monday after a 3-1 loss in Game 5 in St. Louis. We really don't expect anything less from him going back there. Wacha has not lost in four starts this postseason, striking out 28 batters and allowing only three runs over 27 innings. Two of those runs came in Game 2 last Thursday when David Ortiz lifted a 3-2 changeup over the Green Monster in the sixth inning. Wacha had been dominant to that point, allowing two hits over five innings. On his third time through the order, though, Wacha could not contain Ortiz. There was no shame in that. Ortiz is hitting .733 in the Series, doing most of the heavy lifting for his teammates, who are collectively batting .151. The discrepancy between Ortiz's success and that of the rest of the team did not seem to bother the Red Sox very much as they prepared to face Wacha for a second time. Jonny Gomes pointed to how they had rebounded in the American League Championship Series against Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez, who compiled an A.L.-leading 2.57 earned run average this season. Sanchez held the Red Sox hitless for six innings in his first start of the A.L.C.S. In his second start, the Red Sox battered him for nine hits and four runs (three earned). "It's definitely going to help a lot more than the first time," Gomes said of facing Wacha. We've done a really good job building on our failure, like we did against Sanchez. But saying the same thing, Wainwright came out and turned it around. He got to us. I don't think it's a coin flip. It's a race to adjustments, getting a couple of lucky hops. Those fans are going to be rocking and rollin" too. They're gonna be pumping us up. Opposing Wacha will be John Lackey, who started and won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series as a 24-year-old rookie with the Los Angeles Angels. Thinking back to that Series, Lackey said he was more excited than nervous. But, Lackey suggested, he was expected to go only deep enough to hand the game over to the Angels" strong bullpen. "My job was just basically not to screw it up," Lackey said. Whereas Wacha is now expected to save his team. The Cardinals not only lost both games started by Wainwright, their ace, but they also have scored only three runs in the past two games. The way he has been hitting, Ortiz could possibly outproduce the Cardinals" lineup by himself in Game 6. Unrelated to their struggles at the plate, the Cardinals also had some problems getting out of St. Louis, where their plane was delayed by mechanical problems. "I just try to approach every game the same," Wacha said on a conference call as he waited to take off. I don't think it's going to be too much different. We know the next two games are must wins. It all starts with me tomorrow night. Wacha will take the mound for the first World Series Game 6 at Fenway since Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1975, with Fisk trying to will the ball fair by waving his hands. But the Red Sox went on to lose the Series in Game 7. The last time the Red Sox clinched a World Series at home, Babe Ruth was on the team and the year was 1918. The Cardinals will be trying to become the first team to win Games 6 and 7 of a World Series on the road since the 1979 Pirates did so against the Baltimore Orioles. "This will be legendary," Wainwright said, "if we go into Boston and win two games."