Sunday’s Game Report: Dodgers 4, Cardinals 1
By Rob Rains
It likely says something about what the Cardinals have accomplished so far this season that they were disappointed they weren’t able to complete a sweep of their weekend series against the Dodgers on Sunday at Busch Stadium.
Going into the series, they likely would have been happy simply to win two of the three games and win the series for the seventh time out of their first 11 series to begin the season. That was not the case in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s loss, however.
The loss snapped their season-high six-game winning streak.
The Dodgers jumped on starter Dustin May for two runs in the second inning, the first time the Cardinals had trailed in the series, and the Cardinals were shut out until they pushed across their only run in the eighth.
They are now 6-4 through the first 10 games of their stretch of 17 games in 17 days.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Five of the Cardinals’ seven hits came with two outs, including the double by Alec Burleson in the eighth that drove in Jordan Walker, who had walked, with their only run … Burleson has driven in at least one run in his last six games and leads the team with 28 RBIs in 33 games … The Cardinals left seven runners on base and were just 0-of-2 were a runner in scoring position … They lost an early scoring chance in the second when they had runners on first and third with two outs but Nathan Church was thrown out trying to steal second … They also had runners on first and third in the fourth when Pedro Pages flew out to end the inning … Their streak of hitting at least one homer was snapped at eight games.
On the mound: May gave up the first three Dodgers runs on seven hits. He also walked two and struck out three over his six innings. He also enduced three double plays in the first four innings and the Cardinals turned another double play in the eighth, giving them eight in the final two games of the series … The final LA run came in the eighth off Jared Shuster.
Key stat: Shohei Ohtani reached base twice on a walk and hit by pitch, but was retired in his other three at-bats and finished the series hitless in 12 at-bats. It was the most at-bats without a hit in a series in Ohtani’s career.
Worth noting: The Cardinals’ pitching staff did not allow a home run to the Dodgers in the series, the first time that has happened since 2014 … Aftef the Cardinals host the Brewers for the next three games, they will head to San Diego for a four-game series that will feature a different television provider for each game of the series. Thursday night’s game will be televised by ESPN; Friday night’s game will be on Apple TV; the game on Saturday night will be on Fox, and the day game on Sunday will be on the Cardinals’ regular TV network … Jimmy Crooks hit his 10th homer of the season for Memphis on Sunday and it also was a good day for catching prospect Rainiel Rodriguez of the Peoria Chiefs, who hit his third homer as part of a three-hit day that raised his season average to .306.
Up next: Kyle Leahy will get the start on Monday night in the opener of the three-game series against the Brewers.
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