The Los Angeles Dodgers are not only in a close, tough race for the top in the NL West Division, but also for the final National League Wild Card spot. The Dodgers pulled even with the St. Louis Cardinals for the final playoff spot on Friday night with a 3-0 victory at Busch Stadium. Yasiel Puig went deep twice, while Walker Buehler allowed two hits over eight shutout innings for the seventh win of his rookie season.
Buehler struck out nine and walked two, throwing 105 pitches before Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless ninth inning to shut things down for good. It was the first time in his major league career that Buehler pitched past the seventh inning, as he earned his first win since August 17th. He retired the first 13 batters he faced before Paul DeJong had a single. Harrison Bader singled later in the night for the only other Cardinal hit of the game.
The Dodgers' starter continued his success against St. Louis this season. In two starts against them, he has not allowed a run over 15 innings, and has struck out nine in both of those outings.
Puig's first home run came in the second inning off of Jack Flaherty, who suffered his seventh loss for St. Louis. The starter allowed a run over six innings, but he did strike out eight in the loss. He now has 168 punch-outs on the season, which is the fourth-most by a rookie in franchise history. Puig's other home run came off of reliever Tyler Webb in the ninth inning.
Outside of Puig's two home runs, it was a passed ball against Yadier Molina that scored Cody Bellinger for the only other run in the seventh inning. Jansen hit Yairo Munoz with a pitch in the ninth, but stranded him, as both the Dodgers and Cardinals sit four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the top Wild Card spot. Los Angeles is also just a half-game behind the Colorado Rockies for first in the NL West. The Dodgers and Cardinals will play two more times this weekend, including on FOX Saturday Baseball and ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.
Buehler struck out nine and walked two, throwing 105 pitches before Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless ninth inning to shut things down for good. It was the first time in his major league career that Buehler pitched past the seventh inning, as he earned his first win since August 17th. He retired the first 13 batters he faced before Paul DeJong had a single. Harrison Bader singled later in the night for the only other Cardinal hit of the game.
The Dodgers' starter continued his success against St. Louis this season. In two starts against them, he has not allowed a run over 15 innings, and has struck out nine in both of those outings.
Puig's first home run came in the second inning off of Jack Flaherty, who suffered his seventh loss for St. Louis. The starter allowed a run over six innings, but he did strike out eight in the loss. He now has 168 punch-outs on the season, which is the fourth-most by a rookie in franchise history. Puig's other home run came off of reliever Tyler Webb in the ninth inning.
Outside of Puig's two home runs, it was a passed ball against Yadier Molina that scored Cody Bellinger for the only other run in the seventh inning. Jansen hit Yairo Munoz with a pitch in the ninth, but stranded him, as both the Dodgers and Cardinals sit four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the top Wild Card spot. Los Angeles is also just a half-game behind the Colorado Rockies for first in the NL West. The Dodgers and Cardinals will play two more times this weekend, including on FOX Saturday Baseball and ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.
