Shohei Ohtani reached a career milestone with his 1,000th hit and struck out a season-high eight batters. Still, the Los Angeles Dodgers could not hold a late lead as the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 5–3 victory on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. St. Louis, entering the game as +150 underdogs, scored four runs over the final two innings to take the series finale.
Ohtani, making his eighth start of the season after missing all of 2024 on the mound while recovering from elbow surgery, allowed one run on two hits over four innings. He struck out the side in the fourth and did not factor into the decision. At the plate, he delivered a two-run homer in the third inning off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore, a 39th blast of the season that also marked his 1,000th career hit. The home run put Los Angeles ahead 2–1 after St. Louis had taken an early lead on an RBI single by Jordan Walker in the second inning.
The Dodgers extended their lead to 3–1 in the fourth. Andy Pages stole third base and scored when Cardinals catcher Pedro Pagés overthrew third, giving Los Angeles a two-run cushion.
St. Louis began its comeback in the sixth inning when Lars Nootbaar drove in a run with a groundout to cut the deficit to 3–2. The Cardinals then broke through in the eighth against Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia. Walker singled to right field with two outs to score the tying run. On the same play, rookie third baseman Alex Freeland committed a throwing error while trying to retire Walker at second base, allowing a second run to score and giving the Cardinals a 4–3 lead.
In the ninth inning, Nootbaar added an insurance run with a double to right off Brock Stewart, scoring Brendan Donovan to make it 5–3. Riley O’Brien closed the game with four outs to earn his first major league save, while JoJo Romero picked up the win with a scoreless seventh inning, improving to 4–3 on the season.
Walker, who replaced the ill Willson Contreras in the starting lineup shortly before first pitch, finished with three hits and two RBIs. The Cardinals’ offense produced eight hits, with six coming in the final four innings.
Ohtani’s outing included his first allowed stolen base of the season when Walker swiped second in the third inning. Despite getting the leadoff man aboard in five straight innings, Los Angeles could not generate additional runs after the fourth.
The Dodgers dropped to 67–49 with the loss, while the Cardinals improved to 54–59. St. Louis will return home Friday to face the Chicago Cubs, sending rookie Michael McGreevy (3–2, 5.08 ERA) to the mound against Matthew Boyd (11–4, 2.34 ERA). The Dodgers open a home series Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, featuring a marquee pitching matchup between Clayton Kershaw (5–2, 3.29 ERA) and Max Scherzer (2–1, 4.39 ERA), both members of the 3,000-strikeout club.