Marcell Ozuna Goes Yard as Cardinals Beat Dodgers, 4-3

A first-inning home run and a late-inning wild pitch from an old friend led the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers on Monday. The win for St. Louis snaps the five-game winning streak that Los Angeles brought to town and evens the Cardinals’ record at 5-5.

The Dodgers got to Miles Mikolas early. Leadoff batter Joc Pederson was hit by a pitch and took third on Corey Seager’s base hit. Cody Bellinger and A.J. Pollock each drove in a run to put the Dodgers up early, 2-0.

In the bottom of the first, Paul Goldschmidt drew a one-out walk from Hyun-Jin Ryu. Goldschmidt later switched places with Jose Martinez, who reached when Goldschmidt was forced at second. Next, Marcell Ozuna scorched a 1-1 delivery to the fair side of left-field foul pole for his second home run of the season. Ozuna’s homer had a 115.3 MPH exit velocity, and that ranks as the second-hardest hit ball in 2019.

Take a look for yourself:

Former Cardinal Joe Kelly pitched in the sixth inning for the Dodgers, entering the game after Matt Carpenter led off the inning with a base hit. At the time, the Dodgers were ahead, 3-2. Kelly walked Goldschmidt before Jose Martinez lined a single to left to tie the game. Ozuna hit into a double play, but it moved Goldschmidt to third. With Paul DeJong batting, Kelly threw a wild pitch, and Goldschmidt chugged in with the go-ahead, game-winning run.

Mikolas settled in and was able to log six innings on Monday. He allowed the two runs in the first inning and another in the fifth but was able to strand the bases loaded in that frame. The sixth inning could have brought trouble, too, as the Dodgers had runners at second and third with just one out. On Mikolas’s 100th pitch of the night, Russell Martin flew out to center fielder Harrison Bader, who caught the ball shallow. Bader then fired back to Goldschmidt, who then flipped the ball to DeJong for an inning-ending double play.

John Gant followed Mikolas with two scoreless innings before Jordan Hicks worked the ninth to earn his second save.

The Cardinals and Dodgers will play the second game of their series on Tuesday - same time, same place. Dakota Hudson will face off with Ross Stripling, and the Cardinals will be looking to win three consecutive games for the first time this season.