After an explosive first game in the series, the Los Angeles Dodgers bounce back with a 3-2 win thanks to a game-winning home run from Matt Kemp in the 8th inning, while the St. Louis Cardinals, losing their lead in the NLDS, found it very difficult to get anything going offensively.
After a 10-9 win in game 1, the Cardinals finished with just 5-for-31 at the plate, getting their only two runs when Matt Carpenter hit a two run homer in the 8th inning, taking Oscar Tavares, the pinch hitter who got on base earlier with a single, along with him for the scoring ride. It didn’t help them as Matt Kemp hit a big home run to lift the almost 55,000 fans to their feet, with Kemp being one of only two players on the team, along with pitcher Zach Greinke, to finish the game with multiple hits.
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the third inning: Dee Gordon grounded out which scored A.J. Ellis, followed by a single from Adrian Gonzalez, helping Greinke, who is now a .313 hitter in the postseason, scoring his first run ever after seven postseason games. Greinke has an excellent start with seven innings, two allowed hits and seven players struck out. J.P. Howell blew the save by giving up the home run to Carpenter, but Brandon League and Kenley Jansen picked up the slack for him.
Lance Lynn started for the Cardinals, striking out eight batters but also giving up seven hits and two runs in his six innings. Pat Neshek got the loss written to his name after giving up the home run to Kemp, as the Cardinals had a terrible time taking advantage of situations. They finished with just 0-for-8 with runners in scoring positions, compared to the slightly less wasteful 2-for-9 the Dodgers had during the game.
The game continued to be chippy, especially when Yasiel Puig was on the plate. It certainly affected the center fielder, who finished with 0-for-4, striking out on all four at-bats. They keep aiming at his head but not really, successfully making him bothered with talking to the catcher or the umpire. The Dodgers got away with a win despite his production bottoming out, but with Carl Crawford and Juan Uribe also doing an awful job (0-for-8 combined), they’ll need much better and calmer performances from Puig.