St. Louis Cardinals
Adrian Gonzalez hit a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers topped the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3, to salvage a three-game set.
A.J. Ellis led off the ninth with a double to center against Trevor Rosenthal (1-5). Justin Turner and Dee Gordon both struck out before Hanley Ramirez was hit by a pitch. Gonzalez then slapped a base hit to right to plate the pinch- runner Miguel Rojas and give the Dodgers a 4-3 edge.
Kenley Jansen fired a 1-2-3 ninth to garner his 28th save of the season.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who had won eight straight starts, struck out eight and allowed three runs on six hits and a walk in a no-decision, while J.P. Howell (2-3) notched the win for recording the final out in the eighth.
“It was a struggle,” Kershaw said of his start. “I didn’t have a great idea where the ball was going for most of the night.”
Peter Bourjos cracked a two-run homer among his two hits for St. Louis, which had won seven of its last nine games coming in.
Both teams scored a run in the second to open the scoring.
Andre Ethier smacked a one-out triple and later came home on a Juan Uribe single to right. Jhonny Peralta led off the home second with a single and scored two batters later on Allen Craig’s double to left center.
The Dodgers pushed a pair of runs across in the third before the Cardinals got both runs back in the sixth.
Kershaw walked to begin the third and advanced to second on Dee Gordon’s groundout. Ramirez coaxed a free pass and after Gonzalez lined out, Matt Kemp and Ethier both hit RBI singles to give LA a 3-1 lead.
Matt Carpenter walked to start the sixth and Bourjos followed by launching his two-run shot just over the wall in left-center to knot the contest at 3-3.
“It was a mistake and fortunately I didn’t miss it,” Bourjos said of his homer.
The Dodgers put runners on the corners with one out in the seventh, but Seth Maness got Kemp to ground into an inning-ending double play. In the home seventh, A.J. Ellis picked off Mark Ellis at second with two away.
St. Louis threatened again in the eighth, putting runners on first and second with two outs, but Matt Adams grounded out to quell that opportunity.
