St. Louis Cardinals win first of four-game series over Los Angeles Dodgers 9-5 – MLB Update
The National League’s St. Louis Cardinals defeated league rivals Los Angeles Dodgers 9-5 in the opening competition of their four-game series at Dodgers stadium on Thursday, April 14.
It marked the second-straight win for the Cardinals after they overpowered Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday to grab the three-game series by 2-1.
In a stadium packed with spectators, the Dodgers started positively restricting the Cardinals’ batters to no-hit and posting an early lead with a RBI single to centre-field. The Cardinals did not let the opposition enjoy the lead for long as catcher Yadier
Molina and third baseman Daniel Descalso added RBI singles each and reversed the lead to 2-1. Left fielder Matt Holliday landed the plate in third and widened the advantage to 3-1 with an RBI single.
The game kept on stumbling upon either side until the fifth inning when Albert Pujols homered for the second time this season that piled-up 6-3 over the opposition. Holliday and Molina added another RBI single each in seventh inning creating a grave situation
for the opposition. However, the Dodgers struggled hard to remove a five-run deficit but succeeded in trimming only two runs and received another trounce. It also recorded the club’s third-consecutive defeat for the first time in this season.
The Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa seemed pleased of the batters’ contribution. He said, "We made some good contact and got some timely hits. We are just having good at-bats. Once you have a little success, you get more confidence."
The batters also earned relaxation for the starter Jaime Garcia, who gives away a run in first inning and received in third and fourth inning. This might have caused them costly if the reliever Mitchell Boggs could have not tossed two shut-out innings. The
27-year-old hurler made the Dodgers helpless making three strike-outs in critical sixth and seven innings. He allowed one run in the bottom of the eighth inning but until now, the destruction has worked.
The Dodgers’ starter Hiroki Kuroda was not as fortunate to have full support from his relievers. The 36-year-old right-hand hurler went for six runs and allowed his career-high ten hits including a homer while striking-out three batters. The reliever Lance
Cormier remained unsuccessful as he received four hits and three runs over his innings. However, Mike MacDougal and closer Jonathan Broxton did not permit any run in their short spells.
The Dodgers’ centre-fielder Matt Kemp drove in a RBI single and launched a huge homer in the last inning but it was useless.
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