Dodgers’ road routine falls flat in 3-1 loss to Cardinals

What a difference a day makes …

Just like Saturday, the Dodgers failed early to get any hits, still worked the pitching count and then tried a belated rally. Hey, what works one day doesn’t always the next.

This time the Cardinals hung on for a 3-1 victory Sunday at Busch Stadium, holding the Dodgers to just two hits in the process.

One hit was a solo homer by Joc Pederson -- his team-leading 13th home run of the season -- but otherwise it was an ineffective offensive effort for the Dodgers in their 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Which wasted a fine start by Brett Anderson, who surrendered a two-run homer to Jhonny Peralta in the first inning and then held the Cardinals in check for the rest of his six innings.

The Dodgers, however, could never get anything going against St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez (5-2), who threw seven scoreless innings, giving up only a single to Andre Ethier. The 23-year-old Dominican has not allowed a run in his last three starts (20 1/3 innings).

The Dodgers never did really challenge Martinez. They did get two one-out walks in the sixth inning -- the same inning in which they rallied Saturday, to bring up the same two hitters. Only this time, Martinez struck out Adrian Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick.

Martinez struck out eight in his seven innings and walked three.

Pederson enabled the Dodgers to avoid their fifth shutout in six road games when he hit his home run off right-hander Kevin Siegrist in the eighth.

The Cardinals got the run back against struggling reliever Chris Hatcher in the bottom of the inning. Hatcher held St. Louis scoreless in the seventh, but instead of being satisfied getting one good inning out of him, Manager Don Mattingly sent him out again in the eighth.

Hatcher (6.89 earned-run average) walked two and was yanked, but it was too late. Yimi Garcia came on but gave up a run-scoring single to Peralta. Garcia also gave up a single to Yadier Molina but Enrique Hernandez threw out Matt Carpenter at the plate.

Trevor Rosenthal pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 15th save, but not until after walking two with two outs. He struck out Justin Turner on a check swing to end it. Turner argued the call and was ejected from a game that had just ended.

Anderson fell to 2-3 with the loss. He gave up the two runs on five hits and three walks, striking out five.