Teoscar Hernandez delivered a game-ending two-run double in the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers found some offense just in time to pull out a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
Without Shohei Ohtani, who received the day off following a four-strikeout game Wednesday while showing discomfort in his right arm, Hernandez delivered to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals (70-71).
The only other Dodgers run came when Tommy Edman scored on a fifth-inning wild pitch. Edman batted in the leadoff spot in place of Ohtani and went 4-for-5.
In his sixth start for Los Angeles (83-57), Tarik Skubal gave up two runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts.
Joshua Baez and Ramon Urias each had a RBI single for the Cardinals. Quinn Mathews, a rookie from nearby Orange County, gave up one run over five innings in his fifth career start for St. Louis.
The Cardinals are now 2-1 to open a key nine-game road trip with their wild-card chances hanging in the balance.
Mathews worked around four hits and four walks and had four strikeouts.
Edman singled with one out in the ninth against right-hander Riley O’Brien (3-7) and stole second before Mookie Betts walked. Hernandez ripped a double to left-center to end it on a 3-2 sinker.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead against Skubal in the first inning. Jose Fermin and Ivan Herrera opened the game with singles, and Baez brought home the run on a one-out base hit.
St. Louis threatened again with a pair of second-inning singles but did not score. In the third, the Cardinals delivered three hits in a span of five batters as Urias delivered a run for a 2-0 advantage.
Edman opened the bottom of the fifth with a double and went to third on a Hernandez ground ball before scoring on a Mathews wild pitch.
The Dodgers had the bases loaded in the eighth before Dalton Rushing struck out against George Soriano.
–Field Level Media
