Lackey keys 3-1 win for Redbirds
ST. LOUIS — John Lackey was just as advertised for the St. Louis Cardinals. Their postseason power surge has been a big surprise.
Kolten Wong hit a two-run homer to snap a seventh-inning tie, Matt Carpenter went deep for the third straight game and Lackey pitched St. Louis past the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 Monday night to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five NL Division Series.
“Well, we just kind of knew what we were going to get,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “He wants the ball. He proves it by how he goes out and throws.”
Facing elimination in St. Louis for the second consecutive postseason, the Dodgers will turn to ace Clayton Kershaw on short rest Tuesday night in Game 4. Shelby Miller makes his first playoff start for the Cardinals, one win from a fourth straight trip to the NL Championship Series.
The Cardinals finished off Los Angeles in a six-game NLCS last fall, knocking out Kershaw in the fifth inning of a 9-0 blowout in the final game.
Two runners reached against Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth before he earned his second save of the series — with an assist from the grounds crew on a rainy night.
Rosenthal said he was unable to find his footing, missing badly on consecutive pitches to Juan Uribe, before the grounds crew applied a drying agent and raked the mound. The right-hander then threw a pair of practice pitches and regained his stride, retiring the next two batters on flies to right for his sixth career postseason save.
Hanley Ramirez had three of the Dodgers’ seven hits, including an RBI double in the sixth.
Lackey, acquired from Boston at the trade deadline, gave up five hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts. The veteran right-hander improved to 7-5 in postseason play, including three wins for the Red Sox last year — one against St. Louis in the World Series.
“I think there’s definitely different energy, different adrenaline level. And that can take you to special places when you use it the right way,” Lackey said. “The atmosphere tonight was great. Fans were unbelievable. You feel that. You feed off that. If you channel it the right way, it can definitely help you out.”
Asked what made the 35-year-old Lackey so tough, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly mentioned plate umpire Dale Scott.
“I thought Dale was very generous,” Mattingly said. “We had a lot of guys complaining about the strike zone. We felt like he was really generous, and that puts you in a bind.
“You can’t go too far with it, but really generous.”
Nationals 4, Giants 1
SAN FRANCISCO — Eye black and uniform still on, Bryce Harper emerged from a different kind of fog than typically seen in San Francisco. This was the celebratory stuff from a Nationals victory party, and he had earned it, all right.
Harper screamed out in delight as he crossed the plate with Washington ahead at last. After all those extra innings and a subdued cross-country flight, the Nationals had broken through — with some help from Madison Bumgarner’s big blunder.
Doug Fister pitched seven shutout innings and the Nationals capitalized on Bumgarner’s one off-target throw, staving off elimination in the NL Division Series with a 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Monday.
“Being able to get that momentum swing to us a little bit is definitely huge,” said Harper, who also made a difficult running catch in the gap.
Fister dazzled again in San Francisco, helping the Nationals cut their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-five series. They ended the Giants’ 10-game postseason winning streak.
Washington scored two runs on Bumgarner’s throwing error in the seventh inning to end the ace’s 22-inning scoreless streak. Harper punctuated the victory with a solo homer in the ninth.
Drew Storen allowed the first two batters to reach in the bottom of the ninth but shook off his postseason struggles, allowing a run in closing it out as Washington forced a Game 4.
