By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals won the series, but were unable to slow down the high powered offense of the Los Angeles Dodgers to get a sweep, losing 7-3 at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Dodgers got to Cardinals rookie pitcher Michael McGreevy early on, scoring three runs in the second inning. Former Cardinal Tommy Edman singled home Max Muncy for the opening score, before scoring himself on a triple by Hyeseong Kim, the first of the season for the Dodgers rookie, also driving in Will Smith. Edman drove in another run in the fourth inning, scoring Smith, with a double to give Los Angeles a 4-0 lead through four innings.
Masyn Winn got the Cardinals on the board in the fifth inning. Back to back singles by Alec Burleson and Pedro Pagés opened the inning before Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw got Jose Barrero to pop out and Lars Nootbaar to strike out. But with two outs, Winn doubled to left field, driving in Burleson for the score. Pagés wound up stranded at third base, and Winn at second base, when Kershaw struck out Brendan Donovan.
A sacrifice fly by Burleson in the sixth inning added another run, scoring Contreras who doubled to open the inning, and had moved to third on a single by Iván Herrera. The Dodgers got that run back in the top of the seventh inning, a solo home run by Mookie Betts.
Contreras cut into the Dodgers lead as the Cardinals scored for a third consecutive inning in the bottom of the seventh. Ryan Vilade walked to start the inning, and after a flyout by Nootbaar and lineout by Winn, moved to third base on a single by Donovan, before scoring on the single by Contreras.
But in the eighth, Los Angeles put the game away getting all the insurance they would need. Edman drove in his third run of the game on a sacrifice fly, scoring Teoscar Hernández with the bases loaded. Enrique Hernández walked to reload the bases, however they would not reload as Muncy scored the final Dodgers run on a passed ball.
McGreevy took the loss, the first loss of his young career after going 3-0 last year, moving to 1-1 this season, pitching six innings and giving up four runs on eight hits, striking out five. Burleson (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 R), Contreras (2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R), Herrera (2-4), and Donovan (2-5) led the way at the plate for St. Louis in the loss.
St. Louis begins a series against Toronto tomorrow at Busch Stadium. Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.91 ERA) will open the series for the Cardinals against José Berríos (2-2, 3.67 ERA) for the Blue Jays. First pitch is at 6:45pm, pregame will be joined at 6:35 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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