Dodgers Get Off Deck, Sink Cardinals in Ninth Inning

Thursday night's game was not looking like it was going to be a win for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Teoscar Hernández, though, had other ideas. 

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With runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth, Hernández smoked a sharp double to the left-center field wall. Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts came in to score and set off a wild celebration at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium.

Final score: Dodgers 3, St. Louis Cardinals 2.

All of that happened on a night when Dodgers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal was not at his crispest. Skubal has an excellent resume and came over to the franchise in hopes of adding a World Series championship.

The Dodgers' offense was pretty lackluster against the Cardinals. But, they got the job done even as Shohei Ohtani was not in the lineup. 

Skubal, while pitching well enough to get a win on Thursday night, saw his velocity go down some and it kind of wasn't his night. He gave up eight hard hits, and also had a 32% chase rate up against a 25& whiff rate.

Not Skubal's best effort

In 5.2 innings of work against the Cardinals, Skubal gave up 10 hits, two earned runs, walked one, and struck out six. His ERA goes to a still-impressive 2.86 mark after being taken out of the game in the sixth inning by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

Edgardo Henriquez was the first Dodger reliever out of the bullpen. He worked to just one hitter and recorded a strikeout to finish the sixth inning. Evan Phillips came on in the seventh inning, giving up one hit while striking out one St. Louis batter. Alex Vesia then relieved Phillips to start the eighth inning.

After Vesia got the first out in the ninth inning, Roberts pulled him in favor of Brock Stewart. 

St. Louis got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Joshua Báez singled to Los Angeles right fielder Kyle Tucker. José Fermín scored on the play while Iván Herrera reached second base. That put the Cardinals up 1-0.

In the top of the third inning, St. Louis' Ramón Urías singled on a line drive that carried out to Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández. Iván Herrera scored on the hit, and Leo Bernal motored into second base. By now, it was 2-0 Cardinals.

Dodgers get on the board

Los Angeles got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning to tighten things up at 2-1. Cardinals pitcher Quinn Williams threw a wild pitch and Edman made his way across home plate. Hernández reached second base. By the way, Edman was 4-for-5 in the game with a run scored.

In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Max Muncy, Hernández, and Kyle Tucker all walked to load the bases. But Dalton Rushing, in a clutch moment, struck out against Cardinals reliever George Soriano. It was just a bitter way for an inning to end.

As the game turned into the bottom of the ninth inning, with one out, Edman singled. Then, he stole second base while Mookie Betts was at the plate. Betts walked, putting runners at first and second base. Hernández came up and hit the game-winning double, lifting the Dodgers to a big come-from-behind win.

The Cardinals gave Quinn Mathews the start and he went five innings. Mathews gave up four hits, one earned run, walked four, and struck out four. Cade Winquest and veteran reliever Ryan Stanek worked one inning in relief apiece.

Through seven innings on Thursday night, the Dodgers were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and had left seven total runners on base. In that same timespan, the Cardinals were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.

The important thing, though, is that Los Angeles sent their fans home deliriously happy.

After St. Louis leaves town and heads over to play the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series, the Dodgers will have the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds coming into town.

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