St. Louis Cardinals Outlast Dodgers, 3-1

Jhonny Peralta hit a two-out double in the fifth inning Friday night, scoring Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday en route to a 3-1 win for the St. Louis Cardinals over the Dodgers. He hit it against Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Dodgers starting pitcher. Seth Maness received the win, his third. The teams are 1-1 in the four-game set at Dodger Stadium. Today’s game is set for 6:15 Midwest time, to accommodate Fox Television.

Pat Neshek performed yeoman-work out of the bullpen by getting Yasiel Puig to pop out, and Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Kemp to ground out in the eighth inning, this after Dee Gordon had reached on a hit against Sam Freeman. Freeman retired the only batter he faced in the seventh. He started the eighth but Mike Matheny replaced him with Neshek. Trevor Rosenthal navigated through the ninth unscathed, claiming his 24th save of 2014.

It started inauspiciously for the Redbirds, as Carlos Martinez got the six hitter in the Dodgers lineup, Juan Uribe, to fly out to right field with the bases loaded in the first inning. Martinez didn’t escape damage the next inning, when the Dodgers went ahead 1-0. Martinez allowed six base runners in the first two innings, and was just behind by one run. He’d surrendered four singles and two walks.

Ship righted, and, after a Yadier Molina solo blast tied it in the fourth inning, Martinez again ran into trouble in the fifth. Seth Maness was brought on to face Gonzalez with two on and one out. Maness induced a come-backer, helping secure an inning-ending double play, 1-6-3.

Carlos Martinez was two-for-two when he led off the top of the fifth inning with a single. Matt Carpenter reached when his bunt attempt failed to move the lead runner, as Gonzalez moved in from first base and threw to second for the force-out. Holliday singled, and Matt Adams struck out. Peralta followed with a smash past center fielder Scott Van Slyke, scoring Carpenter and Holliday.

Lance Lynn opposes Zack Greinke in this evening’s 4:15 Los Angeles time start. Shadows should be a factor for much of the game. Shelby Miller is supposed to face Clayton Kershaw in Sunday’s finale. The St. Louis Cardinals have not yet said anything different, since Miller came out of his last start early with back spasms.