ST. 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. Philip Rivers Jersey . The 17-time Grand Slam champion, who lose three straight finals in Monte Carlo to Rafael Nadal from 2006-08, has not played in the tournament since 2011, when he lost to Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. Dan Fouts Jersey . 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The appointment of Boullier continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring at McLaren, who recently brought back former team principal Ron Dennis as its new chief executive.DENVER - The Colorado Avalanches frantic finish more than made up for a bad first period.Zach Redmond scored his second goal of the game with 1:35 remaining, and the Avalanche rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday night.Jarome Iginla had a goal and an assist, and Erik Johnson also scored for the Avalanche, who have won three of four. Calvin Pickard had 17 saves in relief of Reto Berra to earn his first NHL win.With the time Ive been here Im feeling more and more comfortable, Pickard said.Colorado trailed 3-2 late but controlled play for most of the third period. Iginla tied it 3-3 at 14:43, and Redmond pinched in from the blue line to record his first career multi-goal game.The puck was kind of moving down low, Redmond said. Me and Iggy had talked about it earlier on the power play, me creeping down there. I was able to time it right, and he put a perfect pass on my tape and made it easy for me.Carolina pulled goalie Cam Ward for an extra skater with a minute left, but couldnt tie it. Ward finished with 31 saves.Nathan Gerbe, Andrej Nestrasil and John-Michael Liles scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost five of six after a 5-0-1 stretch.The Hurricanes struggled to score during their recent slide, managing just two goals during a three-game losing streak.Their offence woke up in the first period, but was silent the rest of the way against the banged-up Avalanche. They had a chance to go up three goals early in the second period but Pickard made a glove save on Alexander Semins shot from in close and then scooped the puck off the goal line.Its 3-1 and the puck is on the goal line, and Sems has a shot there, Carolina coach Bill Peters said. Maybe it goes to 4-1 and it turns out different.Colorados injury woes forced the Avalanche to recall an entire line from Lake Erie of the AHL.Tomas Vincour, Andrew Agozzino and Ben Street made their debuts after the team was hit hard by injuries. Dennis Everberg (separated shoulder) and Alex Tanguay (facial fracture) were hurt on Thursday. Jamie McGinn is battling back pain, and John Mitchell sustained a leg injury in practice on Friday.ddddddddddddThat is on top of the injury to No. 1 goalie Semyon Varlamov, who is out because of a groin strain. Berra struggled in his second straight start and gave way to Pickard after allowing three goals on 10 shots.Pickards performance helped prevent Carolina from getting its first win in Denver. The last time the franchise won here was Feb. 9, 1996, when the team was the Hartford Whalers.He stood on his head, Redmond said of Pickard.The Hurricanes looked like they would end the drought with a big first period. Liles beat Berra 3:48 in, and Gerbe made it 2-0 just 82 seconds later with a shot through traffic.It was Liles first goal of the season, and it came in his first game against his former team.It was pretty emotional, said Liles, who was with the Avalanche from 2004-11. A lot of friends, a lot of good memories and its a different feeling on this side. It would have been nice to get the win along with the goal, but it was still a nice feeling coming back to this building and getting the start from Coach, too.Colorado got some life when Redmond scored midway through the first. His centring pass to Agozzino went off the skate of Carolina defenceman Andrej Sekera and past Ward to cut the lead in half.Nestrasil chased Berra with a soft goal to the short side at 16:50 of the first to put the Hurricanes ahead 3-1.Johnson cut the lead to one with his fourth goal at 8:25 of the second period. His shot from the left circle beat Ward 2 seconds after the Avalanches second power play expired.Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, and Gabriel Landeskog added two for Colorado.NOTES: Carolina D Brett Bellemore left the game in the first period after being checked into the boards by Colorado RW Cody McLeod. He didnt return. ... The Avalanche placed Everberg, McGinn (back) and D Brad Stuart (hamstring) on the injured list. ... Liles is 15th in A