Ozuna two homer, Goldschmidt decisive run lead Cardinals over Dodgers

Marcell Ozuna lined a two-run homer and Paul Goldschmidt scored the decisive run on a wild pitch as the St. Louis Cardinals recorded a 4-3 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday in the opener of a four-game series. Jose Martinez added a run-scoring single as St. Louis halted the Dodgers' five-game winning streak. Los Angeles didn't trail for 42 innings until the Cardinals moved ahead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-1) gave up three runs and five hits over six innings. He struck out three and walked one. John Gant pitched two hitless innings and fellow right-hander Jordan Hicks finished up for his second save. Hicks walked Enrique Hernandez with one out in the ninth before getting Russell Martin to pop up and pinch hitter Justin Turner to ground to third.

Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu departed after 34 pitches with two outs in the second inning due to a left groin strain. Ryu allowed two runs, two hits, one walk and struck out one. St. Louis scored twice in the decisive sixth to take a 4-3 lead.

Matt Carpenter opened the inning with a single to right-centre field off left-hander Scott Alexander. Right-hander Joe Kelly (1-2) entered and walked Goldschmidt before Martinez followed with a tying single to left-centre field. After Ozuna grounded into a double play to move Goldschmidt to third, Kelly unleashed a wild pitch that bounced well before the plate as the Cardinals took the lead.

The Dodgers scored twice in the first inning on Cody Bellinger's fielder's choice and A.J. Pollock's run-scoring double. Goldschmidt drew a one-out walk from Ryu in the bottom of the inning, and Ozuna slammed a two-out low liner that barely cleared the left-field fence and was about three feet fair to knot the score at 2.

Mikolas hit Martin and Joc Pederson with pitches in the fifth inning, and Los Angeles took advantage when Corey Seager drilled an opposite-field line single to left field to score Martin for a 3-2 lead. The Dodgers threatened to add on in the top of the sixth when they had runners on second and third with one out. Martin hit a looper toward a shallow centre, where it was gloved by the charging Harrison Bader, who threw to second to easily double up Hernandez.

(With inputs from agencies.)