The Dodgers battled on Saturday night in St. Louis, erasing a 3-0 early deficit to make it a game in the 6th inning. Unfortunately, lefty standout Victor Gonzalez didn’t have it and served up a 3 run bomb to seal LA’s fate. The offense tried to come back one more time late but just fell short in a heartbreaker thanks to an absolutely terrible strike three call with the tying run on 2nd base and Mookie Betts at the plate in a 3-2 count.
Considering the spray pattern of St. Louis closer who missed badly with three straight pitches, it was a shocking strike three.
Let’s get into the highlights.
The Cardinals got on the board first with a run in the first and 2 in the 2nd before LA starter Noah Syndergaard settled down to toss 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk. He struck out 4.
The Dodgers got their bats going in the 6th with a 3 run homer off the bat of DH J.D. Martinez.
Flash forward to the 8th where Victor Gonzalez struggled for the first time this season. The left-hander allowed a lead off double to Tommy Edman. After a strikeout, Dave Roberts opted to intentionally walk Paul Goldschmidt and Cards’ DH Nolan Gorman took that personally.
He took a decent sinker down in the zone 400 feet to right center field and was pumped up over it.
The Dodgers tried to get Victor off the hook in the top of the 9th with a Miguel Vargas lead off double followed by a David Peralta single to put runners on the corners with none out. Jason Heyward doubled on a line to right field to drive home Vargas and put runners on second and third. After an out, Will Smith, pinch hitting for Austin Barnes, brought home Peralta on a sac fly, bringing the score to 6-5 Cardinals.
Smith should have actually walked on 5 pitches, but the home plate umpire had dinner reservations or something… more on that in a minute.
The lineup flipped to the top and Mookie Betts was called out looking on what should have been ball four.
Home plate umpire Paul Emmel took the bat out of Freddie Freeman’s hands to end the game.
Up Next
The Dodgers go for the series split with Clayton Kershaw (6-3, 2.52 ERA) on the mound for the 11:15 AM PT start. St. Louis counters with struggling ace Jack Flaherty (3-4, 5.24 ERA).
