ST. LOUIS -- For three straight days at Busch Stadium, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was steadfast in his belief that his team would turn things around on the field. After he was proven wrong the first two times, he did not change his message on Sunday morning.
"This is one of those things where it's a gut check, in the sense of you don't want to get swept," Roberts said. "We have a chance to salvage the series, and this is … certainly not a must-win, but this is a game that we need to find a way to win."
For the first time since Monday, the Dodgers did just that. Justin Wrobleski served as a stopper with six scoreless innings, and his offense did just enough against old friend Dustin May to snap their four-game losing streak with a 4-1 win in the series finale against the Cardinals.
Los Angeles' offense has scuffled for nearly two weeks, and the bats did not quite break out of their slump. But on Sunday, the Dodgers' lineup did something they were unable to do during their skid: get on the board first.
After going down in order in the first inning, the Dodgers had something going when Kyle Tucker doubled and Max Muncy walked to open the second. With one out, Andy Pages gave L.A. its first lead of the series with an RBI double. Hyeseong Kim followed with a run-scoring single.
The Dodgers added on another run in the fifth inning, when Kim led off with a base hit and Freddie Freeman brought him home on a two-out single. All three runs were charged to May, marking the first time since April 26 that L.A. scored more than two runs against a starting pitcher.
Wrobleski continued to thrive in a starting role. He pitched around plenty of contact, scattering six hits and one walk with no strikeouts across six efficient innings. The Cardinals struck for one run off right-hander Will Klein in the eighth inning, but Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott shut the door while recording the final four outs.