Cardinals struggle at plate, lose series to Dodgers

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Cardinals' six-hit, one-run effort proved too little to clinch the team's first series win since early August. St. Louis dropped game three of its series with the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 at Busch Stadium on Sunday afternoon, falling to two games below the .500-mark.

The Redbirds mustered their only run of the game in the 8th inning on Lars Nootbaar's 8th home run of the season. Before that, the Cardinals posted just four scoreless hits against starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the first six innings and did not improve much at the dish after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on his bullpen to close out the win, recording just two hits in the final three frames.

While St. Louis was mostly silent in the batter's box, the Cardinals did get solid performances on the mound from both starting pitcher Sonny Gray and four different relievers. Gray tossed five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks. He also tallied six strikeouts. Out of the bullpen, Shawn Armstrong, Matthew Liberatore, Ryan Fernandez and John King all posted a scoreless inning and three combined strikeouts.

The difference-making frame was the 5th inning. Gray allowed both of his earned runs in that frame on Shohei Ohtani's 39th home run of the campaign and an RBI single from Miguel Rojas. That 2-0 Cardinals deficit was just enough to give Los Angeles their second series win over St. Louis this season.

After Sunday's action, the Cardinals are now 11 games behind the Brewers for the National League Central division lead, narrowly holding on to second place by just a 0.5 game. In the wild card race, St. Louis also has a hill to climb, trailing Atlanta by five games for the final spot in the playoffs.

Up next - the Redbirds will close the book on their six-game homestand, following its upcoming series with the Brewers. Milwaukee meets St. Louis in game one of three, starting on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 6:45 p.m.