Playing in front of a national audience on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time since May 2012. What’s more, the Dodgers entered play with their first three-game winning streak since mid-April.
Matt Carpenter nearly opened the game with a leadoff solo home run, but his deep fly ball was caught on the warning track in right field. Alex Wood then completed a scoreless first inning by inducing a pair of grounders.
Mike Leake retired Chase Utley and Corey Seager before allowing a two-out single to Justin Turner in the bottom of the first. Leake prevented the Dodgers from mounting a rally by striking out Adrian Gonzalez on three pitches to end the inning.
Aledmys Diaz hit a one-out single in the second inning. Nothing came of it as Wood retired the next two batters, including picking up his second strikeout in the frame. Howie Kendrick reached on a Carpenter error in the bottom of the second, and moved into scoring position on Yasiel Puig’s slow tapper in front of the mound.
Joc Pederson then grounded out to end another scoreless inning. Carpenter made up for nearly hitting a home run in the first inning by getting enough of a pitch for a solo shot with two outs in the third.
The Cardinals’ 1-0 lead didn’t hold up for long, as Seager hit an opposite-field home run with two outs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.
CONTINUE READING: Dodgers bullpen falters, Corey Seager hits second home run
Gonzalez led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk. After Yasmani Grandal fouled out, Kendrick pulled a base hit into left field. Puig drove a pitch to deep center, only for Randal Grichuk to make a catch while crashing into the fence.
Pederson also made solid contact, though his grounder was knocked down by Matt Holliday, who then tossed to Leake at the bag to end the inning. Wood tossed a second consecutive 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, retiring Jeremy Hazelbaker, Kolten Wong and Eric Fryer.
Wood led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to center, but was erased from the bases on an Utley force out. Utley was then easily caught stealing, and Leake ended the inning by getting Seager to chase a pitch low and inside.
Carpenter drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, the Stephen Piscotty was hit by a pitch to put two on with no outs. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts paid a visit to the mound, but left Wood in the game as Louis Coleman and J.P. Howell were warming up.
The decision paid off as Wood got Holliday to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, followed by another grounder to end the inning without allowing the Cardinals to take a lead. Coleman took over in the seventh and took a liner off the hip that ricocheted to Turner’s direction and he managed to make the play.
Howell took over with multiple left-handed batters due up, and allowed a single before managing to record an out. He then gave way to Joe Blanton, who intentionally walked pinch-hitter Brandon Moss.
Yadier Molina pinch-hit for Leake, and pulled a two-run double down the left field line to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. After another intentional walk, Blanton gave up a RBI single to Piscotty before he could get out of the inning.
Seager hit his second solo home run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the Dodgers’ deficit to 5-2. The multi-homer game was the first of Seager’s career. Trevor Rosenthal entered in the ninth and worked around a leadoff walk to earn a save.