Saturday’s match report: Cardinals 5, Dodgers 2
By Rob Rains
The 1-2 combination of Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson led the Cardinals to a victory over the Dodgers on Saturday night at Busch Stadium, ending their five-game losing streak.
Burleson and Winn hit two of the Cardinals’ three home runs and combined to go 5-for-8, scoring three runs and scoring four times.
Unlike Friday night, when the Cardinals also hit three home runs and lost, Andre Pallante managed to limit the Dodgers to just two runs in seven innings, one of their runs coming on a home run by Shohei Ohtani, the first of his career against the Cardinals.
Despite the win, the Cardinals remained ten games behind the leading Brewers, who beat Cleveland 2-1 on Saturday night.
This is how the game went on Saturday evening:
On the plate: Burleson scored 21 runs, making him the best player on his team.st Home run of the season in the third after a single by Winn … Winn hit his second consecutive home run in the fifth inning, his 11th.th of the season … The last home run came from Nolan Arenado, his 12th of the year, adding another run in the eighth inning… The Cardinals had scored their first run in the first inning when Burleson hit a single, stole second base, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Willson Contreras.
On the hill: Pallante allowed one run in the first inning but allowed only three more hits in the seventh, including a home run by Ohtani. He allowed two walks and struck out five strikeouts… JoJo Romero pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Ryan Helsley, making his first appearance since Aug. 9, needed just six pitches to strike out the three Dodgers he faced in the ninth inning and score his 38.th save.
Important statistics: This was the second time this season that the Cardinals hit three home runs in back-to-back games. They also did it on June 3 and 4 in Houston, but lost both games.
Noteworthy: The Cardinals struck out only once in the game, by Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth inning… It was still a bad night for the Cardinals with runners in scoring position, as they went 1-for-9 with a man on second or third base… Quinn Mathews, pitching for Double A Springfield in Frisco on Saturday night, went seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits, no walks and striking out 11 times. He leads the minor leagues with 168 strikeouts in 119 innings and has recorded 10 or more strikeouts six times this season.
Outlook: Sonny Gray will start in the series finale against the Dodgers on Sunday and his opponent will be Clayton Kershaw.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
