Field Level Media
May 19, 2023
Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer and scored twice to lift the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers past the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Friday.
Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin (2-1) and four relievers blanked the Cardinals on two hits. Gonsolin went five innings and held the Cardinals to one hit and three walks. He struck out three.
Brusdar Graterol, Shelby Miller, Caleb Ferguson and Tyler Cyr worked one inning each.
Cardinals starter Steven Matz (0-5) allowed one unearned run on six hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six.
Matz worked out of trouble in the first inning after Freddie Freeman hit a one-out double. The Cardinals threatened in their half of the inning, but Gonsolin retired Willson Contreras on a chopper to strand two runners.
Miguel Vargas led off the second with a double and took third when Miguel Rojas hit a one-out single. But Matz retired the next two batters, including a strikeout of Betts, to keep the game scoreless.
Both teams left runners in scoring position in the third inning, and the Dodgers left a runner on second in the fourth.
The Dodgers finally broke through in the fifth inning. Betts reached on an error leading off, moved up on a flyout and advanced to third base on a two-out balk.
After J.D. Martinez walked, Chris Taylor lined a double to put Los Angeles up 1-0.
The Dodgers' James Outman made a leaping catch at the center field wall to rob Paul Goldschmidt of a solo homer in the sixth inning.
The Dodgers pushed their lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning off reliever Chris Stratton. Vargas hit a leadoff single, and with two outs, David Peralta walked and Betts hit his 10th homer of the season. Freeman followed with a double and scored on Will Smith's single.
--Field Level Media