Outhomering the Dodgers five to zip, the Cardinals had no trouble controlling this game right from the jump in a 13-8 blowout win. For the first time since joining the Dodgers, Eric Lauer delivered a bad enough start at home that helps illustrate why he was available in the first place, ready to be scooped up by one of baseball’s strongest teams. Lauer ran into all kinds of issues, first crushed by the long ball and then dealing with a massive rally courtesy of nothing but singles, walks, and an HBP.
The bottom of the Cardinals’ order first gave Lauer problems, with Ramón Urías and Thomas Saggese demolishing fastballs in the middle to upper part of the zone to leave the yard in back-to-back at-bats in the second. Saggese, in particular, was on an inspired night, later also crushing his second homer in the game to triple his total (1) before the start of play. Equally not known for his pop, Urías hit what was only his fourth long ball this season.
Still, both of those were solo shots, and only trailing 2-0, Lauer had a path to find himself once again, but in the third inning, it all quickly unraveled for the veteran southpaw. Six of the inning’s first seven hitters reached safely; a little later, Nathan Church drove in the Cards’ seventh run on an infield single—the runner from first was thrown out trying to go to third on the play, ending the inning with the score 7-0.
A seven-run deficit is a daunting challenge to overcome, but with six innings still to go, the Dodgers had nothing but time, and for a brief moment it looked like they’d get back into it. Back-to-back walks by Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman loaded the bases with two outs in front of Mookie Betts. And probably with more luck than skill, Betts cleared the bags on a fly ball to right that likely should’ve been caught but was aberrantly misplayed by the Cardinals’ defense. The scoring in that inning stopped there, and as much as the end product was promising, you couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated at the lack of thump—by the end of three frames, the Dodgers had three runs and just two hits.
Understanding full well who they were going up against, the Cardinals made it so that the Dodgers weren’t able to gain much momentum by scoring two of their own in the following frame to make it 10-3. Looking to get in on the fun alongside the bottom of the order, Jordan Walker took Alex Vesia deep in the fourth for a two-run shot, as Lauer got the hook after three dreadful innings of work.
Individually, Betts was the only Dodger who had a big game, showing up again in the fifth with a proper two-out RBI double. However, Max Muncy was retired right after him, stranding a pair and keeping the home side at arm’s length. Undoubtedly, though, the most frustrating inning for the Dodgers came in the sixth. Teoscar Hernández and Alex Freeland came up to hit with runners at the corners, and both were robbed of extra-base hits on fine defensive plays from the Cards’ third baseman and center fielder, respectively.
Fishing for positives in this game, Will Smith looked good in most of his swings, even managing an RBI double in the seventh and adding one more on a bases-loaded groundout in the ninth. That final Smith at-bat represented a recurring theme for the Dodgers in the late innings, often setting up opportunities to make things closer only to not fully capitalize on them. By the time they scored three in the ninth to make it 13-8, there were already two outs, and the Cardinals’ lead didn’t feel threatened.
Game particulars
- Home runs— 2 Thomas Saggese (3), Ramón Urías (4), Jordan Walker (28), Joshua Baez (6)
- WP—Michael McGreevy (6-9): 5 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts
- LP—Eric Lauer (8-7): 3 IP, 8 hits, 7 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Up next
One day you’re facing Chris Sale at the height of his powers, and the next you’re at home trying to outpitch an opposition that will roll with a bullpen game. That’s the scenario in front of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the second game of this series against the St. Louis Cardinals, starting at 7:10 p.m. (PT).
