For a second time in as many starts, Kenta Maeda allowed three runs in the first inning before the Los Angeles Dodgers ambushed Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals to come away with a win. Maeda and Wacha both endured a bit of bad luck in their respective outings.
With Dexter Fowler on base after leading off the bottom of the first with a single, Dodgers appeared to have a strike ’em out throw ’em out. However, a pitch in the strike zone was called for ball four, putting two on with nobody out.
Soft singles by Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina, coupled with a Chris Taylor throwing error, led to the Cardinals taking a 3-0 lead.
After stranding a pair of runners in the top of the first, the Dodgers left Chase Utley on third base following his leadoff triple in the second inning.
A Logan Forsythe walk and Yasmani Grandal base hit put runners on the corners with one out in the third. Adrian Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly got the Dodgers on the board. Following a Taylor walk, Utley’s ground-rule double trimmed the Cardinals’ lead to one run.
St. Louis then got in their own way as Kiké Hernandez’s game-tying RBI infield single was made worse when Paul DeJong’s throwing error also allowed Utley to score. Wacha’s night conspicuously came to an end at 77 pitches over three innings.
Including a start at Dodger Stadium on May 25, he combined to throw just seven innings and allowed 10 runs (nine earned) in two outings against the Dodgers. Prior to last week, Wacha completed at least six innings in each of his first seven starts this season.
Maeda allowed one baserunner in each the third and fourth innings, including a walk of Cardinals reliever Tyler Lyons, but didn’t allow the Cardinals to capitalize in either frame.
Yasiel Puig and pinch-hitter Franklin Gutierrez both walked with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Forsythe beat out a potential double play, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 7-3 before John Brebbia could get out of trouble.
While Maeda worked one fewer inning, four compared to five, he again exited after allowing three runs to the Cardinals. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts handed the game over to a bullpen that once more answered the call.
Brandon Morrow and Sergio Romo each threw a spotless inning of relief. Adam Liberatore allowed a pair of singles and exited with two outs in the seventh. Pedro Baez struck out Carpenter to end the inning and preserve the Dodgers’ four-run lead.
Chris Hatcher did surrender a leadoff home run Molina in the bottom of the eighth, which snapped the scoreless streak at 24.2 innings for the Dodgers bullpen. Molina was also responsible for the last run the group had allowed — a solo home run off Romo last week.
Hatcher erased a one-out single by inducing an inning-ending double play, which came after a mound visit by Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
Three straight singles off Jonathan Broxton loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning. Hernandez pushed a run across on a sacrifice fly, and Austin Barnes’ delivered a pinch-hit RBI double to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 9-4.
While it wasn’t a save opportunity, Kenley Jansen finished out the game. Los Angeles extended their winning streak to a season-best six games.
What’s more, with the Colorado Rockies suffering a loss to the Seattle Mariners, the Dodgers moved into first place in the National League West for the first time since April 6.
