Wainwright blanks Dodgers over 6 innings, Cardinals win

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ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Adam Wainwright pitched two-hit ball over six innings for his first win in five months, Marcell Ozuna homered and the St. Louis Cardinals salvaged the finale of a four-game series with a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.

The Cardinals snapped a season-high four-game losing streak and moved into a tie for the second National League wild card with the Dodgers, who slipped a half-game behind Colorado for the NL West lead.

The Rockies visit Dodger Stadium for a three-game series beginning Monday night, the last regular-season meeting between the teams.

Wainwright (2-3), making his second start since missing almost four months with right elbow inflammation, struck out a season-high nine while earning his first victory since April 16. His 101 pitches were his most since July 22, 2017.

Cardinals reliever Bud Norris left the game with a blister on his middle finger after walking the only batter he faced in the seventh. Jordan Hicks, pitching for the first time in a week, finished the inning and also worked the eighth.
Carlos Martinez completed the four-hit shutout _ one night after the Dodgers piled up 17 runs.

Ozuna homered to right-center to make it 1-0 in the second.

Yairo Munoz sparked a two-run fourth, reaching first on a wild pitch after swinging and missing at strike three. Jedd Gyorko and Yadier Molina followed with RBI singles, chasing Dodgers starter Ross Stripling and giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Ozuna singled and scored on third baseman Justin Turner’s fielding error in the sixth. Ozuna has a team-high 44 multihit games.

Molina had a pair of singles and drove in another run in the eighth.

Stripling (8-4) retired nine of his first 10 batters before running into
trouble in the fourth. He went 3 1/3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season last Wednesday at Cincinnati.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Norris was removed after throwing just seven pitches.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (15-4, 2.99 ERA) gets the opener of a three-game series in Atlanta against Braves RHP Mike Foltynewicz (11-9, 2.66 ERA) on Monday night. In his last outing, Mikolas became the first pitcher to win 15 games in his first season with St. Louis since Mark Mulder in 2005.

Game time Monday evening is 6:35 with the pre-game at 5:40 on KTLO-AM.

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