A potential postseason preview went heavily in favor of the Los Angeles Dodgers as Tony Gonsolin was dominant on the mound and their offense fired on all cylinders in an 8-0 shut out of a St. Louis Cardinals team that entered play in the first spot for the National League Wild Card Game.
Pitching in his third game for the Dodgers and making his Dodger Stadium debut in a second career start, Gonsolin struck out the first two batters faced and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. His lone blemish to that point was a leadoff walk in the second.
The Cardinals’ first hit off Gonsolin was Kolten Wong’s two-out double in the fifth inning. The young righty remained undeterred, however, striking out Matt Wieters to end the frame.
Gonsolin later allowed another two-out single before completing six scoreless innings. He punctuated the outing by striking out Paul Goldschmidt.
Gonsolin exited after throwing a season-high (including Triple-A Oklahoma City) 90 pitches, with seven strikeouts and having retired 18 of 21 batters faced on the night. The two hits were all the Cardinals managed off Gonsolin, JT Chargois and Casey Sadler.
The Dodgers provided Gonsolin a lead in the first inning thanks to Cody Bellinger’s towering three-run home run that reached the loge level down the right-field line. Corey Seager added an RBI ground-rule double in the third, and Joc Pederson added to Michael Wacha’s woes in the fourth inning by lining a solo home run into the pavilion in right field.
Pederson previously hit a single, and with the homer had three hits in his last four at-bats since ending an 0-for-24 skid in the ninth inning on Sunday.
Wacha followed Pederson’s home run by walking Max Muncy, which marked the end of the road for him at just 3.2 innings. Justin Turner added another run to his ledger by pulling an RBI double down the line. Matt Beaty’s two-run double in the fifth inning blew the game open.
It also gave the Dodgers a 10th game in 23 opportunities since the All-Star break with at least eight runs.
