Cody Snavely
Game 5, 3/30/2024: Dodgers 5, Cardinals 6
LOS ANGELES, CA—The Los Angeles Dodgers, eager to maintain their strong start to the 2024 season and secure a series win over the St. Louis Cardinals, are placing their faith in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. After a challenging MLB debut, where he conceded five runs in a single inning, Yamamoto is determined to bounce back and show his true potential.
For the Cardinals, they would look to Lance Lynn, who the Dodgers acquired at last year’s trade deadline and took the loss in game three of the NLDS, where he gave up four homeruns.
The night’s story was Yamamoto, who started hot, striking out the side, including Brandon Donavan on three pitches. The most significant difference for tonight was Yamamoto’s command, which was lacking in Seoul, Korea, against the Padres.
Despite the light rain, Yamamoto pitched four scoreless innings thanks to a few nice plays by Betts at SS, but the game was put on hold due to a rare Dodgers stadium rain delay, the first since 2015.
Yamamoto would go one more inning, ending his line with 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, and 5 Ks on 68 pitches in his Dodgers Stadium debut, lowering his ERA to 7.50.
For the offense, the Dodgers were ready to pounce early after a Betts lead-off single continued his hot start of 2024. Shohei Ohtani followed with a 114 MPH line-drive single, bringing up Freddie Freeman, who proceeded to hit another single, loading the bases.
In the first, Lynn was already in trouble, with a bases-loaded jam with no outs and the heart of the Dodgers’ order coming up. With the rain sprinkling down, the Dodgers’ offense imploded, wasting a golden opportunity to get out in front early thanks to strikeouts by Will Smith, Max Muncy, and Teoscar Hernández.
Entering the second inning, the Dodgers had runners at the corners after a James Outman walk and a Gavin Lux bloop hit, bringing up the top of the order. However, Lynn would wiggle out of another jam, striking out Betts and Ohtani to end the inning.
The Dodgers offense was cold against Lynn, but he pitched four scoreless innings as the rain started to pick up. However, unlike Yamamoto, he did not return to the mound after the brief rain delay.
Entering the bottom of the fifth inning on his bobblehead night, Freddie had runners at first and third and deposited a ball into center field for an RBI single, scoring Betts and breaking the 0-0 tie.
Will Smith added to the lead with an RBI double, driving in Ohtani and extending his hitting streak to eight games dating back to 2023. However, the inning ended after a double play, as Freeman was tagged out trying to score on a fly ball hit by Max Muncy.
After right-handed relief pitcher Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless inning, the Dodgers sent Joe “wild thing” Kelly out to pitch the second inning, in which he loaded the bases with no outs. The Cardinals would add two runs to tie the game after a sac fly to CF and an RBI base hit by Alec Burleson.
Interestingly enough, the Cardinals had four lefties come up to bat, all reaching base, and opted not to use a lefty in the pen with Ryan Yarbrough or Alex Vesia.
However, the Cardinals took the lead on a balk call on Joe Kelly, and they added on after a ground-rule double, giving the Redbirds a 5-2 lead.
The Dodgers chipped away at the deficit after a two-out RBI single by Smith at the bottom of the seventh and tied it up in the ninth thanks to another Betts HR and back-to-back-to-back singles by Freeman, Smith, and Muncy.
Onto free baseball, where the Cardinals would take advantage of the extra inning rule, taking a 6-5 lead off a fielder’s choice with the infield playing in.
The game would come down to Shohei Ohtani, with the bases loaded down by one. But this time, the two-time MVP popped up to SS Brandon Crawford to end the game with a Dodgers loss 6-5.
The Dodger’s inconsistent offense was not enough to overcome the rain-soaked affair as the Dodgers look to prevent a series split tomorrow on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, where Gavin Stone is set to make his 2024 debut against Cardinals veteran left-hander Steven Matz at 4:10 PM PT.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
