LOS ANGELES — Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Dodgers 5 (10 innings)
It took the Cardinals 25 innings into the season to finally take a lead. It only seemed like it took another 25 before they could secure their first victory.
After losing the first two games in Los Angeles, the Cardinals put together a five-run seventh inning rally on Saturday night and carried a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Mookie Betts hit another homer, this one off Ryan Helsley, and the Dodgers got three consecutive two-out singles to tie the game and send it to the 10th.
A pair of groundouts brought in Victor Scott II with the go-ahead run for the Cardinals but they had to walk a high-wire act in the bottom of the 10th to finish off the win, with Giovanny Gallegos retiring Shohei Ohtani on a pop up with the bases loaded to end the game.
The win broke the Cardinals’ seven-game losing streak in Los Angeles that dated back to 2022.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Brendan Donovan’s two-out, two-run double – his first hit of the year – capped the big seventh inning, which also included a catcher’s interference call, a hit batter and a run-scoring balk, all coming against former Cardinal Joe Kelly … The rally came after the Cardinals had been shut out on just two hits through the first six innings … Alec Burleson had an RBI single in the seveth after hitting a double in the fifth.
On the mound: The Dodgers opened the first inning with three consecutive singles, loading the bases against Lance Lynn, but he rebounded to strike out the next three batters to get out of the inning … Lynn worked four shutout innings before coming out of the game after a rain delay … Betts and Ohtani both drew walks from Matthew Liberatore in the fifth and came around to score … Betts doubled and scored in the seventh off JoJo Romero … Helsley suffered the blown save in his first appearance of the year.
Key stat: In the first three games of the series, Betts has reached base 10 times in 14 plate appearances and has scored seven runs. He has homered in each of the three games.
Worth noting: The last Dodger to hit a home run in three consecutive games in the same series against the Cardinals was Reggie Smith in 1976 … The 35-minute rain delay between the fourth and fifth innings was the first at Dodger Stadium since 2015 … In the first three games of the series, Cardinals batters were a combined 6-of-58 against the Dodgers starters with just one run scored in 17 innings … Lynn made his first start for the Cardinals since Sept. 28, 2017. The lineup that night against the Cubs featured Matt Carpenter at second base. Tommy Pham in left field, Dexter Fowler in right, Jose Martinez at first base, Paul DeJong at shortstop, Jedd Gyorko at third base, Stephen Piscotty in right field and Carson Kelly catching.
Looking ahead: Steven Matz will get the start on Sunday night in the final game of the series before the road trip continues Monday night in San Diego.
