The Return of the Machine: Pujols homer jumpstarts Dodger victory in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — Contrary to F. Scott Fitzgerald, sometimes there are second acts in American lives. Albert Pujols, after creating his legend in St. Louis, came back to the city that gave him his start and gave the locals one more thrill. He hit a solo home run in the top of the first and rounded the bases to the cheers of thousands of Cardinals fans who appreciated his eleven years with the club. After that goosebumps moment, everything else in this game was gravy. The Dodgers had a fairly easy time of it in this one, winning 7-2 in a bullpen game. They kept pace with the Giants and are in position to win the series with a victory on Wednesday or Thursday.

Tio Albert gets the scoring started

Pujols was hitting third on Tuesday night, filling in for Max Muncy at first. So, the Machine was guaranteed a first inning at-bat. After a couple of fairly easy outs, JA Happ stood on the mound as Pujols headed toward the batters box to the ovation of the St. Louis partisans. His old buddy Yadier Molina stood between the pitcher’s mound and home plate for a moment to allow the cheers to continue.

Pujols tipped his cap to the crowd, and then dug into the box for his at-bat. On a 2-1 count, Pujols got a sinker from Happ that he ripped into left field. It wasn’t a towering blast of days gone by, but Albert got just enough of it to clear the fence and put the Dodgers up 1-0.

Cards take the lead in the third

The Cardinals were looking much better at the plate on Tuesday. Well, after facing Max Scherzer on Monday, it would have been hard to look worse. Nevertheless, they plated a couple of runs in the first three innings to take a lead. Both runs came courtesy of a Nolan Arrenado RBI. In the first, Arrenado hit a deep shot to left for a sac fly to score Dylan Carlson. Then, in the third, Arrenado ripped a run-scoring single that plated Tyler O’Neill from second. The Cards had erased the Pujols homer and now were up 2-1.

Welcome back, Steven Souza, Jr!

The Dodgers got back on top with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. The inning started with a couple of singles that didn’t leave the infield. First, Corey Seager sent Nolan Arrenado deep in the hole, and Nolan couldn’t make the throw to first. Then, after passed ball and an out from Chris Taylor, Will Smith bounced one high off the pitcher’s mound and it was men on first and third. The next Dodger at the bat was Steven Souza Jr., who’d been working on things at OKC since being DFA’d in July. The work must have done him good, as he went oppo on J.A. Happ for a double and scored Seager with the Dodgers’ second run of the night. Another run came home when Cody Bellinger grounded out to short, and the Dodgers were back in the lead.

Turner and Smith go solo to add on

The Dodgers got two more runs in the middle innings, both on solo home runs. First, Justin Turner hit a pole hugger down the left field line in the fifth. Then, Will Smith continued his hot hitting ways in the sixth, ripping an 0-2 deep over the left centerfield fence. For Smith, who was 4-for-4 on the night, it was his 22nd long fly of the season, and it raised his OPS for the last month to over 1.000. Keep it up, Fresh Prince.

Bullpen on cruise control

The pen bent a little in the early innings, but didn’t break. In all, nine pitchers came through the outfield gate at Busch Stadium to appear in this one. Only Corey Knebel and Evan Phillips got touched up for runs. Overall, the Dodgers’ staff scattered eight hits and kept the Cardinals from getting any serious threats going. Blake Treinen had a bit of hiccup when he walked the leadoff man in the eighth, but he struck out Nolan Arrenado in an epic at-bat and cruised thereafter. Neftali Feliz finished it off with a scoreless ninth, and the Dodgers put another bullpen game in the W column.

JT goes for two in the ninth

Though the runs weren’t needed, Justin Turner put another good swing on a pitch in the ninth inning. After Trea Turner got a two-out single in the inning for his second hit of the game, Justin Turner came up for one final at-bat. Lefty reliever Kwang Hyun Kim served up a tasty slider that JT deposited over the centerfield fence to blow the game open. Sit down, Kenley. This one is in the refrigerator.

Toughest pitching matchup on Wednesday

The next game is the one I’ve got circled as the biggest danger of this series. It’s another bullpen game for the Dodgers, but the Cardinals send rejuvenated ace Adam Wainwright to the mound. In the absence of Jack Flaherty, who is still nursing an injury he got at Dodger Stadium a couple of months ago, Wainwright has been the Cards’ best pitcher, already notching 14 wins with a 2.91 ERA. It’ll be Mitch White who gets the bulk assignment in this one, as the Dodgers try to win the series with another victory.