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Deja Vu? Lackey, Cardinals Defeat Dodgers 3-0 in St. Louis

Similar to Game 3 of the 2014 NLDS, John Lackey shut down the Dodgers offense on Friday and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated Los Angeles 3-0.

The curse of the Cardinals continued for the Dodgers as St. Louis defeated Los Angeles 3-0 behind another impressive performance by John Lackey.

Lackey was acquired by the Cardinals at the trade deadline last season and the veteran right-hander shut down the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLDS after allowing one run on just five hits in seven innings.

Lackey threw nearly identical numbers as he once again stymied the Boys in Blue allowing five hits with nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings on Friday.

"We're talking an elite-style pitcher for a long period of time," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "As far as what we saw at the end of last year and how well he's throwing right now, it's just much better stuff."

The Dodgers countered Lackey with right-hander Mike Bolsinger who has been on a tear of late. Bolsinger had a scoreless streak of 18.2 innings and the fifth lowest ERA in Dodgers history through his first four starts at 0.71 entering the game.

Bolsinger (3-1) got beat for the first time this season allowing two runs on seven hits in six innings of work. His ERA rose to 1.15.

"I wasn't good," Bolsinger said. "Mu curveball wasn't good. Slider wasn't good either. It was rough with those pitches. A team might beat me, but they will never beat me down."

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Bolsinger surrendered a run in the bottom of the first after loading the bases with no outs. He induced Randal Grichuk to ground into a double play, but the run scored.

Grichuk got the better of Bolsinger in the bottom of the third when his RBI double sailed over the head of Alex Guerrero in left field. Guerrero misplayed the ball, and the team with the best record in baseball jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers stranded six runners in the game and had runners in scoring position with no outs in Lackey's final inning. Lackey (3-3) pitched his way out of the jam, striking out two of the next three batters he faced.

"They've got a good lineup, you've got to keep grinding and you can't take anything for granted," Lackey said. "I just had to make some pitches to get out of that."

Lackey is now 6-3 with a 1.76 ERA in his career against the Dodgers. He's risen his game in a major way this season as Lackey and youngster Michael Wacha have been dominant for the Cardinals in the absence of ace Adam Wainwright who is out for the season with a torn Achilles.

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh after an RBI double by Jhonny Peralta scored Kolten Wong.

Trevor Rosenthal earned his 14th save in 15 chances for the Cardinals by pithing a perfect ninth.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was ejected in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Mike Winters for arguing balls and strikes after Lackey struck out Andre Ethier on a pitch that appeared to be low.

"I was a little frustrated," Mattingly said. "At the end of the day it's not worth wasting your time talking about the umpires, but I don't think they should be telling our catcher how to catch."

Winters was allegedly advising Ellis throughout the game on how he needed to frame his pitches if he wanted them called for strikes. Both the Cardinals and Dodgers complained about Winters' strike zone throughout the game and it appeared that Lackey's strike zone was a lot bigger than Bolsinger's.

The battle between Ellis and Winters reached a boiling point however in the bottom half of the inning when Ellis was ejected by Winters for arguing a ball four call on Matt Carpenter. The ejection was Ellis' first of his career.

"I had a rough game and Mike had a rough game," Ellis said. "It was an accumulation that reached a boiling point. Some things were said that pushed me over the edge. I had to stand up for my pitchers and my players."

The Dodgers were shutout for the fourth consecutive game on the road, and fourth time in ten games overall.

The Dodgers fall into second place in the NL West as the San Francisco Giants leapfrogged Los Angeles in the standings.

Game Notes:
The Dodgers lineup was drastically different than the last time the team the team faced St. Louis in Game 4 of the NLDS last October. Only Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Ellis were in the starting lineup for that game as the other 7 members have either been traded or are on the DL.
 

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