Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With Alex Wood struggling on the mound, the Los Angeles Dodgers fell behind early on in Thursday’s game, ultimately falling to the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4.
Cody Bellinger drilled a solo home run off of Carlos Martinez in the first inning, but the Cardinals (9-9) followed up with five in the next three innings to end Wood’s day early and use five relievers to hold onto the lead.
Tommy Edman continued to haunt the Dodgers (10-9) in the series as his second-inning home run put St. Louis ahead 2-1. Two more crossed against Wood in the third inning, thanks in part to Paul Goldschmidt doubling in the inning, with Kolten Wong wrapping up the scoring for St. Louis with a solo shot off of Ross Stripling in the fourth.
Wood lasted just three innings, allowing six hits and three walks while striking out three. The first four runs of the game were charged to Wood, before Stripling entered for 2 2/3 innings.
Other than the home run, Stripling’s outing was pretty strong as he struck out six and allowed just two other hits. Pedro Baez followed up to close out the sixth and remained in for the seventh, striking out all four batters he faced. Adam Kolarek and Edubray Ramos wrapped up the day for the Dodgers, keeping the Cardinals off the board in the final two innings.
After Bellinger homered in the game’s opening inning, the Dodgers’ offense went quiet for a bit against Martinez. Finishing his day after five innings, Martinez struck out just one in addition to one walk and five hits.
“We put it together today and came out with the win,” Martinez said in postsimulation remarks. “That’s the main thing.“
The Dodgers scored one run apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh as the Cardinals mixed and matched relievers to hold onto the lead. Corey Seager’s RBI double off of Martinez came in the fifth and Carlos Torres followed Martinez to pitch the sixth, allowing a run in his lone inning of work.
A.J. Pollock connected on his first home run of the season when hitting for Baez in the seventh off of I think Sam Dyson, who recorded the last out of the sixth before falling apart in the seventh. With the Dodgers threatening to tie or take the lead, John Brebbia struck out Mookie Botts to end the threat.
From there the Dodgers mounted very few threats to tie the game again as the Cardinals took another series win. The top of the Dodgers’ order went 6-for-15, but only scored on Bellinger’s home run.
Another NL Central opponent arrives in Los Angeles for the weekend series as the Dodgers wrap up their homestand against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday through Sunday.
