ST. LOUIS — Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 5, Dodgers 2
The 1-2 combination of Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson powered the Cardinals past the Dodgers on Saturday night at Busch Stadium, snapping their five-game losing streak.
Burleson and Winn hit two of the Cardinals’ three homers and combined to go 5-of-8, driving in three runs and scoring four times.
Unlike on Friday night, when the Cardinals also hit three home runs and lost, Andre Pallante was able to limit the Dodgers to just two runs over seven innings. One of their runs came on a home run by Shohei Ohtani, the first of his career against the Cardinals.
Despite the win the Cardinals remained 10 games behind the division-leading Brewers, who beat Cleveland 2-1 on Saturday night.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Burleson hit his team-leading 21st home run of the season in the third following a single by Winn … Winn homered for the second consecutive night in the fifth, his 11th of the season … The final home run came from Nolan Arenado, his 12th of the year, that added an insurance run in the eighth … The Cardinals had scored their first run in the first when Burleson singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Willson Contreras.
On the mound: Pallante allowed a run in the first inning but gave up only three more hits as he pitched through the seventh, one the home run from Ohtani. He walked two and struck out five … JoJo Romero worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Ryan Helsley, making his first appearance since Aug. 9, needed just six pitches to retire the three Dodgers he faced in the ninth to earn his 38th save.
Key stat: This was the second time this season the Cardinals hit three home runs in consecutive games. They also did it on June 3 and 4 at Houston, losing both games.
Worth noting: The Cardinals struck out only one time in the game, by Paul Goldschmidt, in the fourth … It still was a bad night for the Cardinals with runners in scoring position as they went 1-for-9 with a man on second or third … Pitching for Double A Springfield at Frisco on Saturday night, Quinn Mathews worked seven shutout innings allowing five hits, no walks and striking out 11. He leads the minor leagues with 168 strikeouts in 119 innings and has fanned 10 or more six times this season.
Looking ahead: Sonny Gray will get the start in Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers and he will be opposed by Clayton Kershaw.
