NL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - LOS ANGELES 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 10 2 ST LOUIS 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 x 4 7 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: LOS - PEDRO ASTACIO, MARK GUTHRIE (8TH), DARREN HALL (8TH) AND MIKE PIAZZA STL - MATT MORRIS, DENNIS ECKERSLEY (9TH) AND TOM LAMPKIN
WP - MATT MORRIS (2-3) LP - PEDRO ASTACIO (3-4) SAVE - DENNIS ECKERSLEY (10)
HOME RUNS: LOS - NONE STL - GARY GAETTI (5) OFF ASTACIO IN THE 4TH, 0 ON
TIME: 2:30 ATT: 28,497
PROBABLES: LOS - RAMON MARTINEZ (4-3, 3.49) STL - ANDY BENES (3-2, 2.93)
LOS ANGELES (2) AT ST LOUIS (4) - FINAL
LOS ANGELES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg W Guerrero 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .292 Hollandsworth cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 .229 Mondesi rf 4 2 3 0 0 1 0 .280 Piazza c 4 0 2 2 0 0 1 .318 Karros 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .237 Zeile 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .236 Anthony lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .303 Gagne ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .271 Astacio p 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .105 a-Liriano ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .231 R Cedeno pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .148 Guthrie p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 D Hall p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 34 2 10 2 0 8 10
a-singled for Astacio in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - Mondesi 2 (11, Morris 2). RBI - Piazza 2 (22). 2-out RBI - Piazza. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Astacio 1, Piazza 1, Hollandsworth 1. GIDP - Gagne. Team LOB - 5.
BASERUNNING: CS - W Guerrero (3, 2nd base by Morris/Lampkin).
FIELDING: E - Gagne 2 (7, throw, catch).
ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg Deshields 2b 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 .280 Gant lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 .219 Lankford cf 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 .365 D Young 1b 3 0 1 0 1 2 0 .267 Mabry rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 2 .265 Gaetti 3b 4 2 2 1 0 1 3 .248 Lampkin c 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .198 Clayton ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .254 Morris p 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 .263 Eckersley p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 32 4 7 4 2 9 10
BATTING: 2B - D Young (5, Astacio); Morris (1, Astacio). HR - Gaetti (5, 4th inning off Astacio 0 on, 1 out). RBI - Morris (2), Gaetti (19), Lankford (33), Mabry (15). 2-out RBI - Morris. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Mabry 2, Deshields 1, Lampkin 1. Team LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: CS - Deshields (4, 2nd base by Guthrie).
FIELDING: Outfield assists - Mabry (Piazza at 2nd base). DP: 1 (Gaetti-Deshields-D Young).
-------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles - 100 000 001 -- 2 St Louis - 010 100 02X -- 4
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LOS ANGELES ip h r er bb so hr era Astacio (L, 3-4) 7 5 2 2 1 8 1 3.00 Guthrie 1/3 2 2 1 1 0 0 2.66 D Hall 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.00
ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era Morris (W, 2-3) 8 8 1 1 0 7 0 2.64 Eckersley (S, 10) 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 3.68
WP - Eckersley. Pitches-strikes: Morris 111-81; Eckersley 22-17; Astacio 97-63; Guthrie 18-10; D Hall 7-5. Ground balls-fly balls: Morris 12-3; Eckersley 1-1; Astacio 9-4; Guthrie 0-1; D Hall 0-1. Batters faced: Morris 29; Eckersley 5; Astacio 27; Guthrie 5; D Hall 2.
UMPIRES: HP--Mark Hirschbeck. 1B--Charlie Williams. 2B--Bruce Froemming. 3B--Steve Rippley. T--2:30. Att--28,497. Weather: 70 degrees, clear. Wind: 12 mph, right to left.
LOS ANGELES (2) AT ST LOUIS (4) - HOW THEY SCORED
LOS ANGELES 1ST: W Guerrero singled to left. Hollandsworth struck out swinging. W Guerrero caught stealing, catcher to second. Mondesi doubled to left center. Piazza singled to right, Mondesi scored. Piazza out at second attempting to advance on throw. LOS ANGELES 1, ST LOUIS 0.
ST LOUIS 2ND: Gaetti singled to center. Lampkin grounded out to second, Gaetti to second. Clayton popped out to shortstop. Morris doubled to right, Gaetti scored. Deshields grounded out to second. LOS ANGELES 1, ST LOUIS 1.
ST LOUIS 4TH: Mabry grounded out to first. Gaetti homered to left. Lampkin grounded out to catcher. Clayton struck out looking. LOS ANGELES 1, ST LOUIS 2.
ST LOUIS 8TH: Mark Guthrie relieved Pedro Astacio. Deshields safe at first on shortstop Gagne's throwing error. Deshields caught stealing, pitcher to first to shortstop, Deshields safe at second on shortstop Gagne's fielding error. Gant flied out to right, Deshields to third. Lankford singled to center, Deshields scored. D Young walked, Lankford to second. Mabry singled to left, Lankford scored, D Young to second. Darren Hall relieved Mark Guthrie. Gaetti struck out swinging. Lampkin lined out to left. LOS ANGELES 1, ST LOUIS 4.
LOS ANGELES 9TH: Dennis Eckersley relieved Matt Morris. Mondesi singled to center. Mondesi to second on Eckersley wild pitch. Piazza singled to left center, Mondesi scored. Karros struck out swinging. Zeile grounded into fielder's choice to third, Piazza out at second. Anthony flied out to left. LOS ANGELES 2, ST LOUIS 4.
GAME RECAPMatt Morris allowed one run over eight innings and Gary Gaetti's home run snapped a tie in the fourth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2.
Morris (2-3) allowed eight hits and struck out seven without walking a batter in his 10th major-league start and first against Los Angeles. Dennis Eckersley earned his 10th save, allowing one run and two hits with a strikeout in the ninth inning.
"I'm just trying to do my job and get ahead of the batters," Morris said. "Tonight I was spotting my fastball good and I really enjoy pitching in tight games."
It was the fourth win in five games for the Cardinals.
"We played a solid game," said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. "The team is playing better but we still have a long season ahead. We got big insurance runs in the eighth and Morris pitched an outstanding game and Gaetti came through with clutch hits."
The Cardinals trailed 1-0 when Gaetti led off the second inning with a single off Los Angeles starter Pedro Astacio (3-4). Gaetti moved to second on Tom Lampkin's groundout and, one out later, scored when Morris doubled to right field to tie the game, 1-1.
"I try to have good swings when I come to the plate," Gaetti said. "I was glad we were able to win this game. Morris has kept us in every game he's pitched and he will be awesome."
With one out in the fourth, Gaetti sent Astacio's 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall for his fifth homer, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 edge.
Astacio pitched seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits as the Dodgers lost their sixth straight road game. He walked one and struck out eight in falling to 3-5 versus St. Louis.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. After Wilton Geurrero was caught stealing for the second out, Raul Mondesi doubled to left center. Mike Piazza singled to right to score Mondesi but was caught in a rundown and tagged out attempting to reach second.
Los Angeles threatened to tie the game but failed to score in the eighth. With one out, pinch-hitter Nelson Liriano singled and Guerrero's groundout moved pinch-runner Roger Cedeno to second base. Todd Hollandsworth then drilled a hard grounder up the middle but shortstop Royce Clayton made a diving stab and threw him out.
"Clayton saved the game for me," said Morris about the play.
"We had our chances but the Cardinals made the defensive plays when they had to," said Los Angeles manager Bill Russell. "It was a tough game to lose."
The Cardinals scored their final two runs in the eighth. Delino DeShields reached base on shortstop Greg Gagne's throwing error. Mark Guthrie had DeShields picked off but Gagne dropped the throw from first baseman Eric Karros. One out later, Ray Lankford's single scored DeShields to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.
Guthrie walked Dmitri Young and John Mabry followed with an RBI single before Darren Hall came in to strike out Gaetti and retire Lampkin on a flyout.
Mondesi led off the ninth with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a base hit by Piazza. But Eckersley struck out Karros, retired Todd Zeile on a fielder's choice and Eric Anthony on a flyout.