Stripling earned some bragging rights over his former college teammate and roommate with a two-out single to right field. The hit came back to haunt Wacha as Kendrick followed with a RBI single that gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.
Stripling retired the first two batters faced in the third inning on just three pitches. Molina was stranded at first base after pulling a two-out single into left field. Gonzalez dropped a flare double down the third base line with one out that landed just fair.
He came around to score on Pederson’s two-out double that hit off the left-center field fence. St. Louis cut into their deficit in the top of the fourth behind a Diaz solo home run. Some of that goodwill was undone in the bottom half of the inning as Diaz committed an error in the bottom half of the inning that allowed Stripling to reach with no outs.
After a Kendrick base hit, Turner flied out to deep right, allowing Stripling to tag and take third base. The Cardinals’ continued to hurt themselves as Carpenter’s throw to second base pulled Wong off the bag. Stripling scored on the play, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2.
Puig tacked on another run with a RBI single before Wacha managed to get out of the inning. A leadoff walk and Holliday single on a hit-and-run put runners on the corners with no outs in the fifth. Holliday then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but Stripling managed to limit the Cardinals to just one run in the inning.
Diaz committed his third error of the game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, allowing a run to score and the Dodgers to take a 7-3 lead. Wong led off the sixth with a broken-bat triple down the right field line.
Wong scored on a wild pitch, which was followed by a Diaz double that knocked Stripling out of the game. Adam Libertore came on and retired the two batters he faced. The ball was then handed off to Louis Coleman, who got a favorable called strike three to end the inning.
Puig added to his night by leading off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run off Tyler Lyons that carried a few rows back of the short fence in right field. Pedro Baez and Kiké Hernandez entered as part of a double switch with one out in the seventh, replacing Coleman and Thompson, respectively.
Baez put another scoreless inning in the books for the Dodgers bullpen by getting a fly out and strikeout. Baez then retired all three batters faced in the eighth. Joe Blanton issued a one-out walk and allowed a base hit in the ninth, which led to Kenley Jansen entering.
Jansen got Holliday to ground into a game-ending double play to earn a save in the Dodgers’ 8-4 win.
