Kevin Kiermaier plays home-run hero in Dodgers’ comeback win over Cardinals
The bottom half of the Dodgers’ lineup keyed a five-run outburst in the sixth inning Friday night, and an overworked bullpen that cracked a day earlier in Milwaukee held over the final three innings of a 7-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium.
No. 8 batter Kevin Kiermaier hit an RBI single in the first inning and a three-run homer in the sixth, and No. 7 batter Miguel Rojas doubled and scored in the second and singled and scored in the sixth to pace a 12-hit attack.
Evan Phillips, Joe Kelly and Michael Kopech, pitching in back-to-back games for the first time since his July 29 trade from the Chicago White Sox, blanked the Cardinals over the final three innings, as the Dodgers snapped a two-game losing streak.
The victory extended the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West to three games over the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The Padres fell at Colorado 7-3 and the Diamondbacks lost at Tampa Bay 5-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow is placed on the 15-day injured list with tendinitis in his right elbow. Bobby Miller likely will start Saturday.
The Dodgers appeared to seize control with a five-run, six-hit rally in the sixth that started with a Mookie Betts solo home run and was capped by a Kiermaier’s three-run shot, turning a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 lead.
The final four runs of the inning came with two outs, as Gavin Lux, Will Smith and Rojas strung together consecutive singles, Rojas driving in a run with his hit to right-center field before Kiermaier crushed an 87-mph slider from reliever Andrew Kittredge 415 feet to right-center for his fifth homer of the season and a 7-4 lead.
But relievers Michael Grove and Anthony Banda combined to give two runs back in the bottom of the sixth, Grove walking two of the first three batters and Banda giving up RBI singles to Brendan Donovan and Pedro Pagés to pull St. Louis to within 7-6.
Kiermaier then raced to the warning track in center field and made a leaping catch of Victor Scott II’s drive to end the inning.
Phillips threw a scoreless seventh with one strikeout and one walk, and with left-hander Alex Vesia and closer Daniel Hudson down after Thursday’s heavy workloads, manager Dave Roberts turned to Kelly, who was tagged for five runs and three homers in 3 ⅔ innings of his first five August games.
Kelly walked Brendan Donovan with one out, but he got pinch-hitter Alex Burleson to fly out to left field and struck out Pagés with a 98-mph fastball to end the inning and preserve the 7-6 lead.
Kopech then struck out two of three batters in a one-two-three ninth inning, his fastball touching 102.6 mph at one point, to notch his first save with the Dodgers.
The evening started on a sour note for the Dodgers when ace Tyler Glasnow, who was scheduled to pitch Saturday night, was placed on the 15-day injured list because of right-elbow tendinitis, dealing another blow to the team’s injury-ravaged rotation.
Justin Wrobleski was called up from triple-A Salt Lake to make a spot start, and the Dodgers staked the rookie left-hander to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Lux led off with a solo homer to center, Rojas hit a one-out double to left, and Kiermaier followed with an RBI single to right.
Scott, the Cardinals center fielder, nearly made a spectacular play on Lux’s drive, leaping high above the wall and making a near-catch before the ball squirted out of his glove upon impact and slipped over the wall.
Two batters into the bottom of the second, the lead was gone, as Nolan Arenado led off with a walk and Paul Goldschmidt belted an opposite-field two-run homer to right center, giving the Cardinals first baseman and former Arizona star 35 career homers against the Dodgers, his most against any opponent.
Masyn Winn broke the tie with a solo homer to left for a 3-2 Cardinals lead in the third, and Pagés, the St. Louis catcher, obliterated a hanging curve from Wrobleski for a 462-foot solo homer to left center in the fifth, the third-longest home run by a Cardinals player since the Statcast era began in 2015.
Mchael Kopech brought a 100-mph fastball to the Dodgers bullpen and could end up the team’s closer soon.
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