The Los Angeles Dodgers had their home run and winning streaks snapped in a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, but the more pressing matter was Hyun-Jin Ryu suffering a groin strain.
He fell behind in the count on multiple occasions and appeared to labor early. Ryu didn’t show any signs of injury before being checked on by a trainer and getting removed with two outs in the second inning. The strain is in the same groin Ryu tore last season, which cost him three months.
The Cardinals only mustered two hits off Ryu, one of which was Marcell Ozuna’s two-run home run that tied the game in the bottom of the first inning.
Dylan Floro answered the bell by retiring all 10 batters faced. Scott Alexander worked a scoreless fifth inning but allowed a leadoff single in the sixth to Matt Carpenter, who later scored and put a run on his ledger.
Joe Kelly shouldered some responsibility in that, as he struggled with command and surrendered back-to-back base hits upon taking over for Alexander. Kelly followed Jose Martinez’s RBI single by inducing a double play, but a wild pitch brought in the go-ahead run for the Cardinals.
The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to the legs of Cody Bellinger. He beat out a potential double play, resulting in a run scoring on the fielder’s choice. Bellinger then raced home when A.J. Pollock doubled.
Miles Mikolas settled in from there, however. After Pollock’s double, the Cardinals’ starter retired 12 batters in a row. Mikolas’ streak was snapped when he hit Russell Martin with a pitch in the fifth inning.
Mikolas then hit Joc Pederson for a second time, which led to Corey Seager’s RBI single that gave the Dodgers a 3-2 lead that Kelly ultimately squandered.
