Kenta Maeda went into Thursday’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals looking to establish some momentum and rhythm in his return from the disabled list. The early results weren’t encouraging, but Maeda settled in and the Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a win in the rubber match.
Dexter Fowled led off the first inning with a base hit, and Tommy Pham followed with a walk to immediately put Maeda in a bit of a jam. He struck out Matt Carpenter but surrendered a two-run double to Jedd Gyorko. Yadier Molina tacked on an RBI single.
An Aledmys Diaz double and intentional walk of Kolten Wong loaded the bases with two outs. However, nothing came of it as Molina was thrown out at home plate attempting to score on a wild pitch. Maeda threw 25 pitches in the inning and faced a 3-0 deficit.
Michael Wacha allowed a leadoff single to Chris Taylor and walked Yasmani Grandal with one out, though kept the Dodgers off the board in the bottom of the first. That changed in the second inning on Chase Utley’s leadoff home run.
Maeda stranded Gyorko and Molina in the third inning after allowing back-to-back singles with nobody out. He retired the side in order in the fourth for the first time on the night. With Maeda due up fifth in the bottom half of the inning, Hyun-Jin Ryu began warming up.
With two outs and runners on the corners, Yasiel Puig’s RBI base hit trimmed the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2. Logan Forsythe was on deck to pinch-hit, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts curiously called him back and allowed Maeda to hit for himself.
Good fortune was in Roberts’ favor as it resulted in a go-ahead, two-run single. Maeda was thrown out attempting to take second base. He returned to the mound in the fifth and ended the inning by making a terrific stop to start a 1-6-3 double play.
Wacha’s night came to an end after a Taylor single and Corey Seager walk. It was the first time in eight starts this season the Cardinals’ righty did not complete at least six innings. Brett Cecil’s two wild pitches gifted the Dodgers one run.
Adrian Gonzalez delivered another with an RBI double, and Los Angeles carried a 6-3 lead to the sixth inning. Taylor’s RBI double in the bottom of the sixth added to it. He finished the night 3-for-4, giving Taylor his fourth three-hit game of the season.
Ryu entered in the sixth inning for his first career relief appearance with the Dodgers. He proceeded to complete the team’s first four-inning save since Ramon Troncoso in 2009. Ryu allowed just two hits over four scoreless innings.
He was aided by Taylor’s diving catch in the right-center field gap that robbed Fowler of a hit in the seventh inning.
