Sportsnaut
Yadier Molina smacked a two-run home run, reached base three times and scored twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals past the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 Wednesday.
Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (15-7) worked 8 1/3 innings as the Cardinals (70-68) snapped their four-game losing streak. He allowed the four runs on seven hits.
Giovanny Gallegos got the last two outs to earn his fifth save.
Max Muncy hit a homer and scored twice for the Dodgers (88-52), who fell two games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
Dodgers starting pitcher Mitch White (1-3) allowed four runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out six batters and walked nobody.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 first-inning lead, but they could have scored more.
After Muncy and Mookie Betts hit one-out singles, Corey Seager smacked a double off the center-field wall. Muncy scored, but Cardinals shortstop Edmundo Sosa’s relay to the plate nailed Betts.
Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt led off the bottom of the inning with singles, then executed a double steal. Nolan Arenado hit a run-scoring groundout, and Molina followed with his homer to put the Cardinals up 3-1.
Molina hit a one-out single in the fourth inning and took second when left fielder Chris Taylor muffed the ball. Molina took third on a wild pitch and scored on Sosa’s two-out single to make it 4-1.
Wainwright settled in to retire 15 consecutive batters until Muncy’s solo homer in the sixth inning.
Tyler O’Neill was hit by a pitch, Lars Nootbaar walked and Sosa reached on an infield single to load the bases against Brusdar Graterol in the bottom of the inning. But Harrison Bader grounded out to strand them.
O’Neill’s homer in the eighth pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2.
Singles by Trea Turner, Betts and Seager cut the lead to 5-3 and chased Wainwright in the ninth. Will Smith’s sacrifice fly made it 5-4, but Gallegos struck out Chris Taylor to end the game.
–Field Level Media
