Detroit, MI (My Sportsbook) - Kenny Rogers continued to amaze with his success this postseason, holding the Cardinals to two hits over eight shutout innings, as the Detroit Tigers held off St. Louis, 3-1, in Game 2 of the World Series.

Rogers (1-0), who has stretched his scoreless streak to 23 innings in the playoffs this year, helped the Tigers even the best-of-seven set. He allowed an infield single to Scott Rolen in the first inning and a base hit to Yadier Molina to start the eighth.

Despite the great performance, there was some controversy involving a substance found on Rogers' pitching hand in the first inning. Television cameras showed something brown on the palm of Rogers' hand. After the game, Rogers said it was a combination of dirt and resin, mostly from rubbing baseballs. By the time he came out for the second inning, the dirt was gone, wiped off, according to Rogers.

"There was no formal request made as far as Kenny Rogers being inspected," MLB umpire supervisor Steve Palmero said. "It was just detected that there was a noticeable dirt mark of some sort on his left hand, his pitching hand, and after the first inning, I believe it was, Alfonso Marquez, the home plate umpire, just asked Kenny to remove that dirt, so there wouldn't be any question as far as any controversy. And I think if you see the following innings, Kenny pitched just fine without the dirt."

Jim Edmonds doubled in the lone St. Louis run in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs against Todd Jones later in the frame. However, Molina grounded into a force play to end the contest.

Craig Monroe's home run and Carlos Guillen's run-scoring double set the tone in the first inning for the Tigers. Sean Casey added an RBI single in the fifth inning while Guillen finished with three hits.

Anthony Reyes starred on the mound Saturday in St. Louis' 7-2 victory, but one night later it was a 41-year-old left-hander who took control for the Tigers, showing vast emotions after so much disappointment in the playoffs - until this year.

Before this year, Rogers carried an ERA of 8.85 in nine playoff games, but he's unscored upon in all three contests in the 2006 postseason. He blanked the Yankees through 7 2/3 innings in the Division Series and then shut down the Athletics in 7 1/3 frames in the ALCS. On Saturday, he became the oldest starting pitcher to ever record a victory in World Series history.

"I think for me I'm just glad I hung in there and persevered just so I could be here at this point in time, not that I expected this by any means," Rogers said. "I know what I'm capable of and dominating teams is not one of them very often. (I) probably got lucky in a lot of ways."

It was a nail-biting ending for the Tigers with Jones on the mound. Rolen singled with two outs and an Jones committed an error on a ball hit by Juan Encarnacion. Edmonds then looped a double down the left-field line and Preston Wilson was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Molina grounded a ball weakly to shortstop and Jones held on for the save.

"We needed a few more hits and maybe have a run or two on the board, but I definitely am not unhappy," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I feel like we're competing the way we've competed all October. If we keep doing that we've got a real shot."

Rogers' 23-inning scoreless streak is tied with Jerry Reuss (1981 Dodgers) for the third-longest in a single postseason, trailing only Lew Burdette's 24 innings for Milwaukee in 1957 and Christy Mathewson's 27 for the New York Giants in 1905.

"I'm no Christy Mathewson, that's for sure, but I've had scoreless streaks before," Rogers said. "I'm so glad it's happening now for us as a team, it helps us win. But I will never put myself in the category of someone like that or even remotely close."

The series now shifts to St. Louis for Game 3 Tuesday night. Nate Robertson will pitch for Detroit versus Chris Carpenter.

Harsh conditions greeted both teams with a game-time temperature of 44 degrees with a threat of light rain and swirling winds.

Detroit quickly got to former Tiger Jeff Weaver in the opening inning. Monroe homered to left field with one out for the game's first run. Magglio Ordonez singled with two outs and then scored when Guillen hit a ball off the wall in left field.

The Cardinals had two runners on in the first, but Encarnacion grounded out to end that threat. That ended an eventual first inning, and afterward La Russa came to umpires to apparently talk about what was on Rogers' hand.

"Tony went out and said a couple of his players said the ball was acting funny, and they made Kenny wash his hands, and he washed his hands, and came out the second inning and he was pretty clean the rest of the way," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

Other Cardinals first alerted their manager of the mark.

"I heard the commotion, but I don't know what was happening," Wilson said. "It really wasn't a big topic of discussion on the bench. We were trying to focus on getting good at-bats, and we didn't want to get distracted by something else."

The Tigers padded their lead in the fifth as Guillen tripled with one out and scored on Casey's two-out single to right field.

Weaver (0-1), who began his career in Detroit, going 39-51 with the Tigers from 1999-2002, was lifted after allowing nine hits and three runs through five innings to suffer the loss.

After Molina singled to start the eighth, Rogers retired Aaron Miles on a force play and then shouted in jubilation after getting David Eckstein to hit into a double play.

Game Notes

This was the second career start in the World Series for Rogers. His previous World Series experience was with the Yankees as he started without a decision on October 23, 1996 versus Atlanta. At 41 years, 11 months, and 12 days, Rogers became the third-oldest pitcher and oldest left-hander to ever start a World Series game...The Tigers left 10 men on base...It was Monroe's fifth homer of this postseason, tying Hank Greenberg for the most homers in Tigers history in the playoffs. Greenberg got his home runs over 85 at-bats, spanning four World Series...Rolen has a hit in seven straight postseason games.