Yoshinobu Yamamoto hurls gem, but Dodgers offense sputters as Cardinals earn walk off win

ST. .LOUIS -- Coming off his shortest start of the season in which he only tossed 3.2 innings against the New York Yankees at home, Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a bounce-back performance on the mound in St.Louis as he threw six scoreless innings, fanning nine Cardinals, but the offense sputtered once again as the Cards walked off the Dodgers 2-1 en route to a series win. Los Angeles has now gone 1-for-25 with runners in scoring position in the last two games and has left 21 on base. 

An excellent pitching duel nonetheless, as Cardinals starter Eric Fedde kept the Dodgers offense on its toes as he tossed 5.1 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing four hits, striking out two, and walking only two batters. The Cardinals began the scoring in the eighth as St.Louis got to newly entered pitcher Ben Casparius early, and in the blink of an eye, there were runners on first and second with two out. 

Alec Burleson would hit a comebacker off Casparius that would roll behind the mound, and in an attempt to get Burleson out at first on a difficult play, it resulted in an off-balance throw that allowed Masyn Winn to score from second. 

It looked as though the Dodgers could sweep up the cobwebs on the offense front, as after Hyeseong Kim led off the inning with a punchout, Shohei Ohtani smacked a ball up the middle that deflected off the second base bag and was safe at first. Mookie Betts would follow suit with a single of his own, and the Dodgers were in business with runners on the corners with one out. 

Freddie Freeman was up at the plate and struck out swinging on a slider down in the dirt that got away from Pedro Pagés behind the dish, which allowed Ohtani to score and make this a tie ball game heading into the bottom of the ninth. 

St.Louis wasted no time in their half of the inning as Nolan Gorman would crack a ground-rule double to right field, and Pagés would be safe at first on a sacrifice bunt as Casparius would commit another throwing error. Nolan Arenado would pinch-hit for Victor Scott II and smack a 1-1 sweeper for a base hit to an unoccupied left field as the Cardinals take the series in walk-off fashion. That RBI marks Arenado's 100th RBI against the Dodgers in his career.