8th inning spark gives Cardinals 4-2 win!

After losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night by a score of 2-0, the St. Louis Cardinals headed into Sunday night’s match-up looking to take the series, although for the overall season series, the Cardinals have officially already won.

And with a 4-2 win on Sunday night, the Cardinals were able do just that, take three out of four games in the road series against the Dodgers.

On the mound for St. Louis was Lance Lynn, and on the mound for Los Angeles was Zack Greinke, both solid veterans in their respective teams’ pitching rotations.

Greinke started off the game with a 1-2-3 inning, and in the bottom half of the first inning, the Dodgers’ offense quickly got on the board. Following a Joc Pederson strikeout, Yasiel Puig singled for the first hit of the game. Adrian Gonzalez then struck out, but third baseman Justin Turner hit a sharp two-out double that scored the speedy Puig and the Dodgers got a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals.

Lynn was able to end the early threat, however, with a strikeout of Andre Ethier.

The only kind of offense mustered by the Cardinals in the second inning was a two out single by first baseman Mark Reynolds. Lynn, meanwhile, pitched a 1-2-3 half inning of work, as the teams headed to the third inning with Los Angeles ahead 1-0.

While the Cardinals were held scoreless once again in the top of the third, the Dodgers were able to score another run in the bottom half of the third. With two runners on and two outs, Turner once again came through, hitting a single to center field, scoring Greinke, who led off with a single. That gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Both Greinke and Lynn pitched scoreless innings in the fourth and the fifth, with the Cardinals still down by two runs.

But that all changed in the top of the sixth inning. After a line out by Matt Holliday, shortstop Jhonny Peralta hit his 9th home run of the season to left center field, cutting the Dodgers lead in half, 2-1. And though that was the only run scored in the inning, it ended the Cardinals scoreless drought that plagued them for nearly 15 innings.

Lynn, who had thrown 98 pitches through five innings, was taken out before the bottom of the sixth started, and Mitch Harris entered the game in relief. And Harris did his job, pitching a scoreless, 1-2-3 inning, with the Cardinals still down by one run heading into the seventh.

After a scoreless top half of the seventh by Greinke, Kevin Siegrist entered the game to relieve Harris. And Siegrist not only pitched a 1-2-3 inning like Harris, but he also struck out the side to get to the eighth inning.

And it was the eighth inning where the Cardinals’ bats came through.

Adam Liberatore started the eighth in relief for Greinke, and allowed a lead off walk to Matt Carpenter. Juan Nicasio replaced Liberatore and pitched to Holliday, who doubled to score Carpenter and tie the game up at 2-2. Peter Bourjos then pinch ran for Holliday, and scored on a single by Peralta, which gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Reynolds followed that with a double, scoring Peralta, and increasing the lead to 4-2 in the top of the eighth.

Relief pitchers Randy Choate and Matt Belisle were called upon in the bottom of the eighth inning to keep the score 4-2, and that is exactly what they did. And in the bottom of the ninth, closer Trevor Rosenthal entered to face the middle of the Dodgers lineup, and was able to pitch a 1-2-3 inning, get the save, and help the Cardinals in the 4-2 victory.

With the win, the Cardinals took three out of four in the series, and improved to 38-19, while the Dodgers dropped to 32-24. Siegrist wins his third game of the season.

Tomorrow, John Lackey gets the start on the mound.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)