Dodgers Fight Back in With 3-0 Win

The Los Angeles Dodgers are not going to go down without a fight. Trailing their best of seven series to the Cardinals 2-0, they came to play on Monday night. Hyun-jin Ryu Brian Wilson, and Kenley Jansen combined to shut out the Cardinals high-powered offense, limiting them to four hits and a walk. Meanwhile, the Cardinals did themselves no favors, flubbing even the most routine of defensive plays and allowing the Dodgers to get right back into the NLCS.

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For the Dodgers, their big bats finally decided to show up against Adam Wainwright. Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, and Yasiel Puig combined to go 5 for 11 at the plate and drove in all three of the Dodgers runs. The most notable of which came off of the bat of Puig. Already up 1-0 thanks to Gonzalez’s RBI double, Puig smoked a ball to right. His initial reaction, bat flip and all, made it very evident that Puig thought he had gotten enough to hit it out of the park. He came up a bit short, but was still able to round all the way to third with an excited jubilation not normally seen on a baseball diamond.

Meanwhile, Hyun-jin Ryu came up huge for the Dodgers. After wasting quality starts in games one and two from Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, respectively, the Dodgers needed Ryu to come up huge. Mission accomplished. Over the course of seven innings of work, he allowed only three hits and a walk while striking out four. The Cardinals had no answer for the 26-year old South Korean.

As for the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright, he didn’t pitch poorly. In fact, it was anything but a poor performance from the Cardinal ace. Instead, he fell victim to several defensive miscues in the outfield by center fielder John Jay that would lead to the Dodgers scoring the game’s deciding runs. Wainwright also had to watch sloppy base running as well, most notably by Daniel Descalso who was doubled up on a rather routine line drive to left. Descalso had also entered the game as a pinch runner for David Frees, who was forced to exit the game with a tight calf following a base hit to right.

Finally, there was serious doubt as to whether or not Hanley Ramirez would be able to play after being hit in the ribs by a pitch on Saturday. The result was a fractured rib, a painful injury but one that Ramirez should be able to play through moving forward.

Game four of this best of seven series is tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 8 pm. Lance Lynn will take the mound for the Cardinals against Ricky Nolasco of the Dodgers.

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