Running low on sleep because of a long night of travel, the Los Angeles Dodgers had an early burst of adrenaline and received a strong start from Max Scherzer that propelled them to a 5-1 win in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Trea Turner sparked a four-run first inning with a leadoff double that was followed by Max Muncy lining a single into right field that put runners at the corners. Mookie Betts kept the line moving with an RBI base hit, and Justin Turner brought in another run on a double play.
Corey Seager kept the inning alive with a two-out walk that led to more trouble for Miles Mikolas as Chris Taylor slugged a two-run homer.
Then in the fifth, Seager’s two-out RBI single extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.
Scherzer had largely settled in by then, pitching without an apparent effects from right hamstring tightness that limited him to six shutout innings his last time out.
Scherzer needed to work around some traffic throughout the afternoon, including in a 22-pitch first inning that started with a leadoff double. Scherzer stranded Tommy Edman by striking out the next three batters faced.
That started a streak of retiring nine batters in a row until Paul Goldschmidt led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Like Edman, Goldschmidt was stranded by the next three Cardinals batters.
St. Louis scratched in the sixth behind back-to-back singles from Edman and Goldschmidt. That put runners at the corners and led to the Cardinals getting on the board when Edman scored on a passed ball.
Edman and Goldschmidt to that point improved to a combined 4-for-6 on the day and were the only Cardinals players with a hit off Scherzer until Edmundo Sosa’s single with one out in the seventh inning.
Scherzer held the Cardinals to the one unearned run and six hits over eight innings, complete with 13 strikeouts that were his most since being traded to the Dodgers.
Scherzer joined Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw as Dodgers pitchers with at least 12 strikeouts in a single start this season.
Joe Kelly backed Scherzer’s effort by retiring the side in order to finish out the win.
Next for Dodgers
The length Scherzer provided helped take pressure off a bullpen that could be in line for significant work on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Dodgers have not announced a starter for either contest, but Mitch White is expected to pitch the bulk of the innings on Tuesday.
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