Wednesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 5, Dodgers 3
By Rob Rains
Shohei Ohtani showed the Cardinals again on Wednesday why he is the best player in baseball.
The good news for the Cardinals was that Ohtani is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery and wasn’t able to pitch more than four innings.
After Ohtani struck out eight of the first 14 hitters he faced – and he also hit a two-run homer – the Cardinals had better luck against the Dodgers bullpen and picked up the victory in Los Angeles.
Part of the luck came with a throwing error in the eighth that allowed the Cardinals to rally from a 3-2 deficit to take a 4-3 lead before they added an insurance run in the ninth.
Riley O’Brien, two days after picking up his first major-league victory in the series opener, earned his first save by getting the final four outs.
The win allowed the Cardinals to take both series against the Dodgers this season, winning four of the six games. It’s the first time they won the season series against the Dodgers since 2019.
Here is how Wednesday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals scored a run off Ohtani when the Dodgers lost a popup in the sun second inning and after a stolen base and a ground out, Brendan Donovan’s bunt single brought the run home … Lars Nootbaar cut the lead to 3-2 with a RBI groundout in the sixth, following a leadoff walk and single … In the eighth, Jordan Walker’s single turned into the tying and go-ahead runs because of the throwing error … Nootbaar drove in the insurance run with a double in the ninth.
On the mound: Matthew Liberatore allowed the three runs over four innings, one of them unearned because of a throwing error by Pedro Pages … The two-run home run by Ohtani in the third came with first base open and one out but the Cardinals elected to pitch to him … Kyle Leahy worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings, recording four strikeouts … O’Brien relieved JoJo Romero with two outs and a runner on first in the eighth and got out of the inning, then pitched around a two-out walk in the ninth.
Key stat: This was only the second series the Cardinals have won since sweeping the Guardians in late June. Out of their last 10 series, the only one in which they won two out of the three games was against the Nationals.
Worth noting: Nolan Arenado is heading to Jupiter to begin working on his injured shoulder at the Cardinals’ spring training complex and might begin a rehab assignment … Willson Contreras was out of the lineup because of a stomach bug.
Up next: The Cardinals will have the day off on Thursday and be back at Busch Stadium to begin a weekend series against the Cubs on Friday night.
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