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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boston Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli holds up the ball in his glove after tagging out St. Louis Cardinals pinch runner Kolten Wong on a pick-off throw from closer Koji Uehara to end Game 4 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. In the background is Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia reacting to the game-ending play. (AP Photo/The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chris Lee)
Kolten Wong, the former University of Hawaii baseball standout from the Big Island, took to Twitter Sunday night to apologize to fans for his base-running mistake that ended the St. Louis Cardinals’ chances for a ninth-inning comeback in Game 4 of the World Series.
The game ended with Boston Red Sox reliever Koji Uehara picking off Wong, a pinch-runner who had taken a big lead off first base with slugger — and potential tying-run — Carlos Beltran at the plate. The Red Sox won the game, 4-2, and tied the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
“All i want to say is i’m sorry #CardinalNation I go out everyday playing this game as hard as I can and leaving everything on the field,” Wong tweeted after Sunday’s game. A subsequent tweet thanked everyone for their support.
It was the first time that a World Series game ended on a pickoff.
Wong took full responsibility for the blunder.
“I just got a little too far off and my back foot slipped out,” Wong told reporters after the game. “He just made a good throw. I slipped and that’s it.”
Wong, who was a first-round draft pick for the Cardinals this year, played for the UH Rainbow Warriors and Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii.
The Cardinals and Red Sox play Game 5 today in St. Louis.
