Cardinals rally vs. Dodgers to back Martinez
LOS ANGELES -- Carlos Martinez outdueled Brett Anderson for the second time in five days and the Cardinals slipped past the Dodgers, 2-1, on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. With the win, the Cardinals extended their winning streak to four games, the fifth time this season the club has had a streak at least that long.
The Cardinals struck in the top of the eighth for a pair of runs without a base hit leaving the infield. Two infield singles kept the inning alive and a sacrifice fly by Matt Carpenter gave St. Louis the lead.
"It was weird to get it how it came through by walks and bunts and that," said Kolten Wong, who drove in the tying run with the second of those infield hits. "It was a weird inning, but good for us."
Anderson tossed zeroes until the eighth inning for Los Angeles, but was tagged with the loss, his third in his past four outings despite all of them being quality starts. He pitched 7 2/3 innings with just four hits and two runs -- both coming in the eighth.
Video: STL@LAD: Mattingly talks about tough loss to Cards
"Baseball is an infuriating game but it's also the best game in the world," Anderson said. "You expect these games to be close and competitive and they have been, we just haven't been on the right side."
Martinez allowed his lone run in the second inning, when he walked Joc Pederson with the bases loaded. After the second, Martinez didn't allow a hit and fanned a career-high 11 Dodgers. He departed after seven innings allowing only three hits.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Video: STL@LAD: Carpenter drives in Heyward with sac fly
Striking late: Held to two hits over the first seven innings, the Cardinals finally got to Anderson in the eighth. Anderson issued a leadoff walk before the Cardinals sandwiched a pair of infield singles around a sacrifice bunt to plate the tying run. Adrian Gonzalez's inability to get an out on Wong's grounder to first base then set the Cards up to score the go-ahead run. The Cardinals entered Friday 3-15 when trailing after seven innings.
"The idea is the pitcher is normally getting over there," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Gonzalez's no-throw to first. "But I doubt they get Kolten there." More >
Video: STL@LAD: Schebler notches first Major League hit
Good Start: Outfielder Scott Schebler didn't take long to make an impact in his Major League debut. On the first pitch of his first at-bat, Schebler slapped a fastball into left field for his first big league hit. Schebler finished 1-for-3. More >
Video: STL@LAD: Pederson draws bases-loaded walk in the 2nd
Streak snapped: In issuing a bases-loaded walk to Pederson in the second, Martinez saw his scoreless innings streak end at 21 2/3 innings, still the longest such streak by a starting pitcher this year. Martinez walked two in the inning and allowed two singles, but escaped further damage with a timely inning-ending double play. He did not allow another hit over his final five innings.
"That was a big play right there," Martinez, speaking through a translator, said of the double play. "[Catcher] Yadi [Molina] told me to throw the sinker down and believe that it was going to be a double play. That's what happened." More >
Video: STL@LAD: Wong plates Kozma with infield single
Infield struggles: In the fateful eighth inning, the Dodgers had chances to get outs on a pair of grounders in the infield, only to have the Cardinals take the lead. Jason Heyward hit a grounder up the middle, fielded by Jimmy Rollins. Rather than going to first, however, Rollins tossed an errant flip to second base in an attempt to get the lead runner, leaving everyone safe on the play. Later in the inning, Wong tapped a soft ground ball to Gonzalez, who was shifted away from first base. With no one covering first base, Wong was safe and the tying run scored. More >
QUOTABLE
"It's almost like, right now, you're snake-bitten by the Cardinals. I've been in situation before where you have a team on the ropes and they're perfect and you're not. So the one time you slip up, they capitalize. You give a team outs, a good team outs, that's going to happen." -- Rollins.
REPLAY REVIEW
Video: STL@LAD: Heyward safe at first, call stands in 5th
The Dodgers challenged the ruling on the field that Heyward was safe at first on a would-be inning-ending double play in the fifth inning. Replay review showed that Heyward beat the throw to first base, and the ruling stood as called.
WHAT'S NEXT
Cardinals: Lefty Jaime Garcia will make his fourth start of the season when the Cardinals face the Dodgers on Saturday (9:10 pm CT first pitch). Garcia, who is 2-1 with a 5.31 ERA in five appearances (four starts) against Los Angeles, has gotten no run support in two of his first three starts.
Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw takes the mound and was roughed up by the Redbirds when he last pitched against St. Louis in the 2014 National League Division Series. The left-hander is 0-2 with a 7.82 ERA in his last two starts against St. Louis.
Watch every out-of-market regular season game live on MLB.TV.