ST. LOUIS -- Shohei Ohtani sliced the first pitch of Sunday’s series finale between the Dodgers and Cardinals to the gap in left-center field and cruised into second base with an easy stand-up double. He remained there for the next three hitters, as Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman smashed line drives for outs, followed by a sharp grounder to third by Teoscar Hernández.
Those three at-bats pushed the Dodgers to a mere 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position to start their sole series in St. Louis this season, but Dave Roberts said he didn’t let any concern that the bad luck was back creep into his thought process.
“I don’t think that was there,” the manager said after his team’s 7-3 victory on Sunday afternoon. “There was a narrative out there for a little bit, but you know, it’s baseball, and so our guys kind of take it in stride. And I thought we were pretty good today with runners in scoring position.”
Los Angeles was 3-for-14 in those situations on Sunday, doing enough to ensure that they avoided what would have been just their second time swept in 2025. The breakthrough came with Tommy Edman’s second-inning single, which plated Max Muncy, and the breakout came one batter later, when Hyeseong Kim slashed a two-run triple to the wall in right field.
Edman would add the third RISP hit for the Dodgers with an RBI double in the fourth, and drove in his third run of the game in the eighth via sacrifice fly.
“We knew it was gonna happen eventually,” Edman said. “Just kind of one of those stretches where we didn’t get hits, hits didn’t fall, and we knew they were going to fall eventually.”
Mookie Betts provided late-inning insurance with a solo homer, his ninth of the season and first since hitting two against the Diamondbacks on May 19. Betts delivered three hits in each of the first two games of the series, but none of those six came with either an RBI or a run scored.
That lack of breakthrough from Betts, as well as the rest of the lineup, came with “frustration,” as Roberts said following Saturday’s loss, but with the confidence earned by long and productive careers for nearly all of the Dodgers’ regulars. Edman echoed that same confidence.
“I think we’ve got a group of guys that have been playing the game for so long that we don’t try to press or anything like that when we’ve had a couple [tough] games,” he explained. “We’ve just got a lot of professional hitters, and you know the hits are going to fall eventually if we just keep the process.”
Edman also expressed pride in the Dodgers’ ability to give run support to Clayton Kershaw, who pitched perhaps his best game to date this season. Kershaw bounced back from a rough last outing to provide the Dodgers with a season-high seven strikeouts over five innings of one-run ball, with three of those strikeouts coming against the top three hitters in the St. Louis order.
"Some things that I’d like to clean up overall,” Kershaw assessed, “but for the most part, I think there were some better throws today.”
Because the Dodgers were able to shake off their RISP woes, he had the advantage of being able to pitch with the wind of a lead at his back. Even in his 18th Major League season, the legendary lefty still felt the benefit of leaning on a lead as he navigated a Cardinals lineup which did just enough to squeeze out wins in the first two games of the series.
Added Kershaw, “Guys get the lead, you want to try to hold it, so it shouldn’t change anything you’re doing. Just keep attacking. But, obviously, always feels nice to get runs early.”
Michael Kopech, who was activated from the injured list on Saturday, made his season debut for the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth inning. He allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three hitters -- again, St. Louis’ top three -- in order, including a strikeout.
Their brief trip to the midwest concluded, the Dodgers will travel back to Southern California for their first matchup of 2025 with the Padres -- and just their fourth divisional series overall. The matchup of the top two teams in the NL West standings comes with the Dodgers executing as well on offense as they have at any time over the last week.
“You definitely want to win,” Kershaw said. “I think this win is important all the way around. Bullpen picked me up, guys are swinging the bats well. Just kind of a good, solid team win, which is I think what we needed headed into San Diego.”