On paper, the NLDS Game 1 match-up between St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright and Los Angeles Dodgers top man Clayton Kershaw appeared like a pitchers’ duel in the making. After all, Wainwright was 20-9 with a 2.38 ERA during the season (third in the National League in ERA) while Kershaw led all of baseball with a record of 21-3 and an ERA of 1.77 and will most likely win the N.L. Cy Young and MVP awards. Few could have expected a final score of 10-9 (video highlights). However, and old sports cliché rang true: “That’s why they play the game.”
Down 6-2 heading into the top of the seventh, the Cardinals exploded for eight runs on route to their victory. Matt Holliday capped the explosion with a three-run shot to give the Cardinals a 10-6 lead.
Earlier in the inning, the Cardinals got RBI’s from Matt Adams and Jon Jay. Then, with two outs and Yadier Molina, Adams and Jay aboard, Matt Carpenter came up with his team trailing 6-4. He launched a 2-2, 95-mph Kershaw fastball off the right-center-field wall, clearing the bases and giving his team a 7-6 lead.
Holliday followed Randal Grichuk‘s walk with his three-run bomb.
The Dodgers started to mount a comeback, scoring two in the eighth on Adrian Gonzalez‘s two-run shot and one more in the ninth on an RBI ground-out from Dee Gordon.
The late collapse ruined the terrific performance of Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, who was 4 for 5, including a two-run shot that put the Dodgers ahead 6-1. The Dodgers earlier got RBI’s from Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig, and Matt Kemp.
St. Louis scored first when Grichuk homered in the top of the first off Kershaw in his first-ever postseason at bat.
Marco Gonzalez benefited from the Cardinals’ seventh-inning outburst to pick up the win. Trevor Rosenthal struck out Puig to end the game and notch the save. Kershaw suffered the loss as he allowed a very un-Kershaw-like eight earned runs in 6.2 innings while walking no one and striking out 10.
Game 2 will start at approximately 9:30 p.m. EDT Saturday night. St. Louis will send Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA) to the mound, and Zack Greinke (17-8, 2.71) will pitch for the Dodgers. The game will air on MLB Network.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kevork Djansezia, Getty Images Sport
