The St. Louis Cardinals opened their weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 5-0 victory Friday night at Busch Stadium, as right-hander Sonny Gray delivered a dominant outing and catcher Pedro Pagés supplied early offense with a two-run home run. The game began after a rain delay of 1 hour and 17 minutes, but proceeded without further interruption.
St. Louis entered the contest as slight underdogs, with most sportsbooks listing the Dodgers at -125 and the Cardinals around +105. The total runs over/under was set at 8.5, which ultimately stayed under as the Dodgers were shut out for the fourth time this season.
Gray, making his 10th start of the season, worked 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing eight hits while striking out five and issuing no walks. The veteran right-hander improved to 7-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.60. It was his second win against the Dodgers in eight career appearances, and he has now thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings stretching back to a May 25 outing against Arizona.
The Cardinals’ bullpen provided reliable support for Gray, as JoJo Romero, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz combined to record the final eight outs. The win marked St. Louis’ eighth shutout of the year and improved their record to 21-9 since May 4, the best mark in the National League over that span.
Pagés gave the Cardinals an early lead in the second inning, sending the first pitch he saw from Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski into the left-center field bullpen for a two-run home run, his fifth of the season. Wrobleski, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Oklahoma City, pitched a career-high six innings but allowed four runs on six hits and three walks.
Brendan Donovan widened the lead in the fifth with a two-out, two-run bloop single to center field, increasing the margin to 4-0. St. Louis added their final run in the eighth inning when Willson Contreras homered off Dodgers reliever Chris Stratton, who had been re-signed by Los Angeles earlier in the day.
Despite putting runners on base throughout the night, the Dodgers failed to score. Their best opportunity came in the third inning when Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts led off with singles. However, Gray responded by striking out Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández before inducing a flyout from Max Muncy to escape the inning unscathed.
Ohtani finished with a pair of singles, but the Dodgers’ offense managed just eight hits and stranded nine runners. The loss marked Wrobleski’s second in four appearances this season and the Dodgers’ second defeat in their last three games.
The series continues Saturday with Los Angeles scheduled to send right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4, 2.39 ERA) to the mound. He will be opposed by Cardinals right-hander Erick Fedde (3-5, 3.82 ERA) as both teams continue to jockey for positioning in their respective divisions.
