Grandal's Homer Spurs Dodgers To 5-1 Win Over Cardinals
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yasmani Grandal's three-run homer capped a four-run sixth inning off Michael Wacha and the Los Angeles Dodgers prevailed for a rain-soaked 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.
Carlos Frias (4-2) allowed an unearned run and five hits in seven innings, an impressive bounce back after surrendering a career-worst 10 runs his last time out. Frias bunted for his first career hit in the seventh.
Howie Kendrick's RBI single tied it at 1 two at-bats before Grandal, activated from the 7-day concussion disabled list earlier Saturday, hammered a 3-1 pitch an estimated 435 feet to left-center.
The Dodgers, held hitless for the first 5 1-3 innings, ended a drought of 42 consecutive scoreless innings on the road, including a 3-0 loss in the series opener Friday.
Wacha (7-1) gave up four runs and three hits in 5 2-3 innings for the Cardinals, whose five-game winning streak ended. He had entered tied for the league lead in victories and among the best with a 1.87 ERA.
The game was delayed 2 hours, 20 minutes before the first pitch, and precipitation resumed pretty much non-stop in the bottom of the first to scatter a sellout crowd of 44,754 before Grandal's drive estimated at 435 feet to left center put the Dodgers up 4-1.
Jhonny Peralta had a run-scoring groundout in the first but also grounded into two of the Cardinals' three double plays and struck out.
Wacha was the NL championship series MVP as a rookie in 2013, twice besting the Dodgers and ace Clayton Kershaw. This was his first regular-season game against them.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: Manager Don Mattingly says OF Yasiel Puig (hamstring) may start a rehab assignment soon.
Cardinals: Matt Holliday was back in the lineup a day after being sent home with flu-like symptoms. He extended his franchise-record streak to 44 consecutive games reaching safely to start the season with a walk in the fourth, then was taken out feeling ill.
UP NEXT
Carlos Martinez (4-2, 3.54) hasn't allowed a run in 13 1-3 innings, a season-long scoreless streak for St. Louis. Brett Anderson (2-2, 3.47) worked a season-high seven innings his last time out and is 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA in May.
REMEMBERING TAVERAS
The Cardinals will mark the one-year anniversary of the late Oscar Taveras' major league debut on Sunday, with members of the players' family scheduled to attend. Taveras and his girlfriend were killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in the offseason.
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