Local Sports

Cards beat Dodgers 5-2

Yadier Molina and Marcell Ozuna slugged two-run homers and St. Louis overcame a lack of communication in the outfield to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 on Tuesday night.
 
The Cardinals improved to a major league-best 16-4 in August and moved atop the NL wild-card standings by a half-game over Milwaukee.
 
They also climbed to 2 1/2 games back of the NL Central-leading Cubs.
 
The Cardinals have homered in 14 straight games. They won the opener 5-3 on consecutive ninth-inning homers by Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter. This victory clinched their eighth consecutive series, equaling their longest streak since April 10-May 7, 2015.
 
Jose Martinez tied it with an RBI single in the third. Molina followed with a two-run shot to right center to make it 3-1, snapping an 0-for-17 skid and leaving him one hit shy of his 11th straight season with 100 or more.
 
With two outs in the seventh, Daniel Hudson hit Tyler O'Neill, setting the stage for Ozuna's two-run homer that extended the Cardinals' lead to 5-1.
 
The Dodgers' runs came in the second when Daniel Poncedeleon hit Yasiel Puig with the bases loaded and in the seventh on Manny Machado's 29th homer.
 
The Dodgers have stranded 25 runners in the first two games of the series.
 
For now, though, the Dodgers dropped 3 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, the farthest Los Angeles has been out of first place since July 1. The Dodgers fell to 32-32 at home.
 
In his second major league start, Poncedeleon allowed one run and five hits in four innings. He struck out a career-high eight and walked one pitching not far from his hometown of Anaheim.
 
Cardinals reliever Carlos Martinez got hit in the chest by a comebacker from Joc Pederson in the eighth. Martinez was knocked down and writhed on the ground as his teammates and a trainer ran to him. He soon got up and walked off under his own power as the inning ended.
 
Defensively, the Cardinals had a series of outfield miscues, all of them involving right fielder O'Neill.
 
He collided with second baseman Kolten Wong as they chased Yasmani Grandal's single in the second. On the next play, O'Neill dived and badly missed a single by Chris Taylor that loaded the bases for the Dodgers.
 
Weaver allowed one run and three hits in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
 
Bud Norris pitched the ninth for his 26th save.
 
Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-1) gave up three runs and four hits in four innings, struck out four and walked one.
 
LHP Jack Flaherty (7-6, 3.05 ERA) starts the series finale for the Cardinals. Rookie RHP Walker Buehler (6-4, 3.19) goes for the Dodgers.

Townhall Top of the Hour News

Local Weather - Sponsored By:

CLINTON WEATHER

Local News

DeWittDN on Facebook