The St. Louis Cardinals have advanced to the 2014 National League Championship Series as they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Tuesday night to win the NLDS three games to one. This year’s will be the fourth straight appearance in the NLCS for the Cardinals, who will also look to reach their third World Series in the past four years. They were the runners-up to the Boston Red Sox in 2013, and they won it all by defeating the Texas Rangers in seven games in 2011.
There you have it! For the fourth consecutive year, your #STLCards are headed to the #NLCS! pic.twitter.com/GE6YvJFau0
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 8, 2014
First baseman Matt Adams provided the big blow with a three-run blast with no outs in the seventh inning off Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw to put the Cardinals ahead 3-2. Dodgers right fielder Matt Kemp made a valiant attempt at robbery but came up a tiny bit short as the ball sailed over the fence just out of his reach and into the Cardinals bullpen.
Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta scored ahead of Adams on the blast, Adam’s first of the postseason. They both singled to open the inning after Randal Grichuk had the only Cardinals hit through the first six innings.
Kershaw (L: 0-2, 7.82) cruised through six innings, allowing only one hit. He left right after giving up the Adams home run and finished with three earned runs allowed on four hits. He also walked two and struck out nine in taking his second loss of the series. Kershaw was pitching on three days rest after going 6 2/3 innings in Game 1 last Friday.
The Dodgers scored first with two runs in the top of the sixth on a run-scoring double play ball off the bat of Kemp. The Cardinals allowed Carl Crawford to score in exchange for the two outs. After a Hanley Ramirez hit-batsman and Andre Ethier walk, Juan Uribe drove home Ramirez to put the Dodgers ahead 2-0.
The Dodgers’ sixth inning threat ended when Yadier Molina picked up a Seth Maness pitch in the dirt. Molina fired to third, picking off Ethier. The call was originally “safe,” but a replay review correctly went the Cardinals’ way to retire the side.
Shelby Miller pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, allowing both Dodger runs. He allowed five hits, walked three, and struck out four. Marco Gonzalez (W: 2-0, 0.00) earned the win in relief with one scoreless inning as he benefited from Adams’s blast. Pat Neshek pitched the eighth, and Trevor Rosenthal got out of a self-induced jam in the ninth by getting Crawford to ground out to end the game and notch his third save of the series.
The Cardinals will face the winner of the San Francisco Giants/Washington Nationals division series in the National League Championship Series, which begins Saturday, October 11. As the Cardinals won Tuesday, the Giants held a 2-1 lead over Washington. A Giants win Tuesday night will clinch the series; a Nationals win will force Game 5 in D.C Thursday night.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Squire, Getty Images Sport