Rangers scratch out a ninth-inning rally to beat Cardinals, 2-1

Reporting from St. Louis — For a team that led the majors in hitting this season, it wasn’t much of a rally: a couple of squib hits, a stolen base, an error and a scoring fly ball off the bat of a one-legged outfielder.

But it might prove to be the rally that saves the season for the Texas Rangers, who scored on a pair of ninth-inning sacrifice flies Thursday to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in Game 2 of the World Series, evening the best-of-seven series heading back to Texas for Game 3 on Saturday.

“It was huge,” said second baseman Ian Kinsler, who started the rally with a bloop single to short left-center.

“Until the last pitch is thrown, last out is made, we’re going to keep fighting,” added outfielder Josh Hamilton, who scored Kinsler to tie the game. “You can’t really say why that is other than the character of the guys on our team.”

And Hamilton certainly knows a lot about character. After all, the former No. 1 draft pick, who battled back from drug and alcohol addiction to become the American League most valuable player last season, has played on one leg the last six weeks.

“It is what it is,” Hamilton said of his strained left groin. “I’m going to hurt until the season is over. So it’s a nonissue as far as talking about it.”

In fact, his manager, Ron Washington, has already stopped talking about it. After Hamilton, in obvious pain, grimaced through four hitless at-bats in Game 1, Washington dismissed calls to bench him for Game 2.

“I’d look for Hamilton to come up big, even though he has had some injuries,” he said a few hours before game time.

And when he did, Washington crowed.

“I know my player,” he said. “If he tells me he can play, I’m putting him in the field.”

That hardly looked like a winning strategy through the first eight innings in which the Rangers had just three hits while Hamilton, who had none of them, stalled their only rally by flying out with a runner on.

And it didn’t look like things would get better in the ninth, with closer Jason Motte -- who had allowed just one baserunner in nine postseason innings -- coming in to protect the Cardinals’ 1-0 lead.

But Kinsler led off with a bloop single to left-center. Then, while Elvis Andrus battled through a seven-pitch at-bat, he stole second by an eyelash. “My hand just barely got in there,” Kinsler said. “It took everything I had.”

Andrus followed with a single of his own, and though the ball was hit too sharply to score the runner, when Albert Pujols fumbled an attempt to cut the throw off, Andrus scampered into scoring position.

Which is when things got interesting.

Every button Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa had so far pushed in the Series had been the right one, so he confidently lifted Motte and brought in former Ranger Arthur Rhodes to face Hamilton. And though Rhodes got his man, Hamilton made the out productive, with his long fly scoring Kinsler and sending Andrus to third.

Rhodes then gave way to Lance Lynn, and though it was a different pitcher the result was the same, with Young bringing in Andrus with the winning run.

“It all worked out,” Washington said. “You just have to keep grinding, keep grinding and good things start to happen. For us, anyway.

“We played nine innings, and tonight was proof of the type of team that we are. We’ve got a lot of character in that clubhouse.”

And now they’ve got a tie in the Series as well.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com