LOS ANGELES -- As the cliche goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
But as the Cardinals came close -- just one double-play ground ball away from sweeping the Dodgers on Thursday -- there were still plenty of positives to draw from a series win, no matter how disappointing the ending.
After beating the Dodgers in the first two games in Los Angeles, the Cardinals dropped the finale, 3-2, on a Teoscar Hernández walk-off two-run double with one out in the ninth.
L.A. entered the frame with only four hits after starter Quinn Mathews and a trio of relievers kept the Dodgers at bay for eight innings. But closer Riley O’Brien faltered in the ninth, allowing a one-out single to former Cardinal Tommy Edman and a walk to Mookie Betts before Hernández sent everyone home.
Despite the loss, St. Louis came two outs away from what would have been a third straight -- but very differently executed -- win against the Dodgers.
Tuesday’s victory featured five home runs en route to a 13-run offensive outburst. Wednesday’s win saw the Cardinals overcome five no-hit innings and a 3-0 deficit to win in extra innings. And until the ninth, Thursday’s series finale included a 10-single barrage against two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.
“That’s the impressive part, is the third different way of winning,” said manager Oliver Marmol. “Knowing that you’re going to need to do exactly that against the three arms that we faced. Today, you got a Cy Young lefty, ton of swing and miss, hard to do damage against, and you sit in the hitters’ meeting, you talk through exactly what the gameplan is, and everyone shortened up and just shot the ball all over the field.
“That’s hard to do against that guy. So I love the fact that we’re starting to execute exactly what we’re saying we’re going to do. That would have been a cool one to take right there.”
It was only the second time in his career that Skubal surrendered 10 hits, and it marked the first instance in MLB this season in which a starter allowed 10-plus singles without an extra-base hit. (Coincidentally, the Cardinals were also the last team to do it, on Aug. 19, 2025, against Edward Cabrera and the Marlins.)
“We’re capable of hanging with the best, I feel like, and when we are convicted and stick to what we know works, things like that happen where we get 10 hits,” said Thomas Saggese, who hit three home runs in the series.
“I feel like it just goes to show how capable we are, and just how resilient this team is,” he said. “We can play with anybody, and that’s obviously a good sign. A lot of positives to take.”
Beyond the offense -- which put up 12 total hits in the finale -- the other encouraging development Thursday was Mathews holding his own against a tough lineup.
“I thought Quinn competed. Especially in this environment, that lineup, I thought he competed well,” said Marmol. “You look at first-pitch strikes, especially with the soft stuff, secondary stuff, that’s what got him behind, drove the pitch count up a little bit and put him in some unfavorable counts. But still was able to battle. But the better he gets at landing that early, the pitch count will be driven down, he’ll go a little deeper.”
The Mission Viejo, Calif., native pitched in front of around 30 family members and friends as he held the Dodgers to one run -- scored on a wild pitch -- over five innings. He gave up four hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Mathews, the Cardinals’ No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has allowed two or fewer runs in four of his five starts since debuting on Aug. 1.
On Thursday, Mathews worked around a bases-loaded jam in the third, and got Will Smith to fly out with a runner on third base to end the fifth. The Cardinals had Cade Winquest ready in the bullpen, but left Mathews in to face the Dodgers’ All-Star catcher -- a gesture that did not go unnoticed by the rookie.
“There’s something to him making a pitch and walking off on his own,” said Marmol. "You’re balancing the uncertainty of what you’re going to see there, and the value of if he gets out of it, or out of that inning, him walking off at 98, 99 pitches, whatever the case may be, he feels a lot better. So I’m glad he was able to compete through that.”