ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers
stayed pretty low-key during their 15-game road winning streak. Now that
it's over don't they don't expect that to change.
St. Louis ended the Dodgers' remarkable run with a 5-1 victory Tuesday night.
"The biggest thing we wanted to focus on
is the streak really didn't mean anything passed that night's game,"
Manager Don Mattingly said. "The games that you won are gone. You can't
win them again."
Still, there is pride in the streak that
drew national attention. Los Angeles outscored its opponents 89-38
while hitting .296 and posting a 2.41 team ERA.
The Dodgers began the run with a win in
San Francisco and followed with three-game triumphs in Arizona,
Washington and Toronto. They won four at the Chicago Cubs and won the
opener of a four-game set in St. Louis 3-2 on Monday.
Clayton Kershaw, who took the loss on Tuesday, was philosophical about the end to the run.
"This just means we've got to start a
new one tomorrow," he said. "It was a pretty cool thing, for sure. It's
definitely not something to take lightly."
The Dodgers last loss away from home came in a 4-2 defeat at San Francisco on July 6.
Carlos Beltran and Matt Adams homered in
the eighth inning and Joe Kelly pitched into the sixth to help the
Cardinals to the victory.
Kelly went 5 1-3 innings, outperforming
Kershaw and helping St. Louis to its fourth victory in the last six
games. Tony Cruz added an RBI single.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a one-out RBI
single off Kelly (3-3) in the sixth, but that was it for Los Angeles
against Kelly. He left with runners on first and second and the
Cardinals nursing a 2-1 lead.
"Kershaw is a stud, but I was just
trying to be the same guy I have been," Kelly said. "Working my tail off
and battling those guys."
Kelly improved to 3-0 in five starts
since rejoining the starting rotation on July 6. He was working on a
scoreless streak of 20 innings before the Dodgers scored in the sixth.
Kelly allowed six hits while lowering his ERA to 2.98. The 20-inning
scoreless string is the longest by a St. Louis pitcher his season.
"We needed him to come up big for us
and that's exactly what he did," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.
"He used both sides of the plate and his change-up was sharp. He
couldn't have done much more than what he did."
Even Kershaw was impressed with Kelly's effort.
"He made pitches when he had to and he got a lot of double-play balls," Kershaw said.
The Dodgers had runners on in seven
innings but failed to come up with the key hit. St. Louis recorded four
double plays, all over the first six innings.
"It was one of those games that was a
one-run game and we had a couple chances with men in scoring position,"
Mattingly said. "We didn't take advantage in those spots. Those are the
kind of runs that you can't give away."
The Dodgers' biggest opportunity came
in the sixth. They battled to within 2-1 and loaded the bases with one
away. But St. Louis reliever Seth Maness got A.J. Ellis to bounce into
an inning-ending double play.
"It's pretty frustrating," Los Angeles outfielder Andre Either said. "It's not like (Kershaw) gave it away."
The Cardinals grabbed control in the
eighth. Beltran hit his team-high 20th homer off Brandon League for a
3-1 lead. Matt Holliday then walked before Adams connected for his third
pinch-hit drive of the season.
"Every time you contribute to help the team score, it feels good," Beltran said. "This was a good team win."
Kershaw (10-7) allowed two runs and six
hits in six innings for Los Angeles, which dropped to 15-3 since the
All-Star break. The left-hander is 5-2 with a sparkling 1.62 ERA over
his last eight starts.
Cruz helped the Cardinals take the lead
in the sixth. He singled in Jon Jay, then moved to third on Pete
Kozma's double. He came home on Kelly's bouncer to second, lifting St.
Louis to a 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals used six pitchers.
"It was a big bullpen day," Kelly said. "I just happened to get the ball to start the game off."
The Dodgers came up two wins short of
tying the major league single-season mark of 17 straight road wins for
the Detroit Tigers from April 3-May 24, 1984, and New York Giants from
May 9-29, 1916. The two-season mark is 21 in a row by Detroit from Sept.
18, 1983 to May 24, 1984.
NOTES:
St. Louis-based rapper Nelly took batting practice before the game. He
also threw out the ceremonial first pitch from the rubber on his
bobblehead night. "I was glad that I just didn't totally bounce the
ball," he said. "It hit the dirt a little, but it was there. Just a
little low and outside." ... Los Angeles is 32-8 in its last 40 games.
... The Cardinals scored in the first inning in their previous four
games before coming up empty on Tuesday. ... Beltran did not hit a home
run in July, the first month he has gone without a round-tripper since
September 1998, his first month in the league.
