Kershaw, Ramirez lead Dodgers past Cardinals 4-1 (AP)
Ryan Ludwick’s consecutive home run stripe ended at five games, which tied a Cardinals record, after he went 1-for-3 with a sole, brace strikeouts and a walk. Ludwick has 29 homers and is batting .475 (19-for-40) for the period of a 10-game hitting streak.
The 20-year-old Kershaw, the seventh overall pick of the 2006 draft, allowed only three singles while matching his season best with seven strikeouts and laboring around four walks. The seven-inning distress was the deepest he’s gone by a abounding inning in 12 career starts.
In his continue three outings the rookie has been nearly untouchable, giving up one run and 11 hits in 19 innings. Cesar Izturis, who was 6-for-11 in the series, ended the left-hander’s 17-inning scoreless streak with an RBI single in the fifth.
Hong Chih Kuo tossed a perfect eighth and Jonathan Broxton, shaking in his first appearance in six days, worked around a hit and a stroll in the ninth for his sixth gather in six chances since Takashi Saito went on the 15-day disabled list greatest month. The Cardinals scored 15 runs and batted .381 during the first two games of the series.
Lohse (13-4) allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings, including his fifth homer in three starts, missing a chance to match his career high for victories contrive in 2003. He finished strong, retiring his last 10 batters after Juan Pierre’s RBI triple in the fourth put the Dodgers ahead 4-0.
Ramirez, booed throughout the series in the sight of each at-bat through fans who unmistakably remember his 2004 World Series MVP turn in Boston’s sweep of the Cardinals, is 13-for-23 with nine RBIs since joining the Dodgers. His 514th course homer was a two-run reach in the third part off a first-pitch fastball from Lohse, putting the Dodgers ahead 3-0.
Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen, removed from the closer’s role for a second appropriated time on Tuesday, worked a scoreless eighth and ninth and was impressive. The only hit he allowed was erased on Ramirez’s double-play ball and he struck out the side against the Dodgers’ 6-7-8 hitters in the ninth.
