Dodgers sweep Cardinals away with 9-4 victory
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Somebody better check the Dodgers’ plane when it lands at LAX on Wednesday evening to make sure any of them are actually on it.
You could understand if they left St. Louis kicking and screaming, clawing fingernails into the Gateway Arch, pledging allegiance to all things Anheuser-Busch.
Something strange happened along the Mississippi River to the Dodgers, something unexplainable. Unless you think the Cardinals have rolled over at the sight of the rampaging Milwaukee Brewers.
The Dodgers, though, battled on, and in impressive fashion in St. Louis, where they swept the Cardinals on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon with their 9-4 victory.
It was the Dodgers’ first three-game series sweep in St. Louis since 1993.
It was also their first road sweep of the season, and all it took was their second ninth-inning comeback of the season on Monday and then scoring the most runs in consecutive games all year; they won Tuesday, 13-2.
This time they broke the game open by scoring six runs in the third inning, eight consecutive Dodgers reaching base safely before left-hander Jaime Garcia finally recorded an out.
Then the game really got otherworldly in the fifth. Light-hitting catcher A.J. Ellis, playing in his first game since being called back up Tuesday, hit the first home run of his career to left field. He didn’t just hit a homer, but drove it an estimated 427 feet.
Juan Rivera added a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Hiroki Kuroda had a 9-1 lead.
The Dodgers have now scored 24 runs for Kuroda (10-14) in his last three starts; they scored a total of 24 runs for him in his previous 12 starts.
He went seven innings, giving up the three runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out four and sweat enough to give birth to Lake Kuroda.
The Dodgers were down 1-0 when their offense went bonkers in the third. Walks to Justin Sellers and Tony Gwynn Jr. proceeded a two-run single by Matt Kemp, which was followed by a Rivera RBI double, Casey Blake RBI single, a James Loney RBI ground-rule double, a Jamey Carroll hit and an Ellis run-scoring single.
It was just another Dodgers rout.
MORE:
T.J. Simers: He really hopes Vin Scully works out
A.J. Ellis recalled to replace struggling Dioner Navarro
-- Steve Dilbeck