Cardinals' Allen Craig ready to play in World Series Game 4, Mike Matheny says

Allen Craig battled through a foot injury to score the walk-off run Saturday. (Michael Ivins/Getty Images)

The day after scoring the winning run in one of the wildest plays in World Series history, Allen Craig is "ready to go" for Game 4 of the World Series and will be available to pinch-hit, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said during his pregame press conference.

According to Matheny, Craig, whose pinch-hit double set the stage for the walk-off run on an obstruction call, remains sore but X-rays taken last night did not reveal any damage to his left foot. He has been dealing with a foot sprain since early September.

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Matheny said he did not know whether Craig would be able to progress with his defensive drills at first base.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Rick Hummel:

He said he didn’t know if the Cardinals’ regular first baseman would be able to progress in his defensive drills but Matheny said, "The defensive work is kind of secondary to having him available to have him come in and do what he did last night.

"He looked very good going from home to second. He ran extremely well, as good as we’ve seen him. I didn’t think we were going to need him to do much more running but that changed quickly.

"But I absolutely admire a guy who’s giving everything he’s got when maybe his body doesn’t want to. That’s what a competitor does. And that’s what this stage does to a competitor."

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