Dodgers Bullpen Blows Late Lead Again as Cardinals Sweep Los Angeles

It's starting to sound like a broken record.

Paul DeJong hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-1 victory, and a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Cardinals' eighth straight road win helped them improve to 17-4 this month, the most wins in the majors. They've homered in 15 straight games, one off the current season mark of 16 in a row by Philadelphia. 

St. Louis remained 2½ games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs.

For Jansen, it was a familiar ending.

The All-Star closer, who became a father for the third time earlier in the day, gave up consecutive homers to Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter in the series opener Monday. That was Jansen's first game back after missing time because of an irregular heartbeat.

"It's a happy, but bitter day. Last two days it wasn't my day," said Jansen. "Just got to move on from and it and get ready for Friday. I'm just going to go out there and keep battling."

This time, Gyorko singled off Jansen (0-5) and DeJong followed with a homer to left-center that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game. 

"I tried to get it up and away, and it was up and middle. He got me," said Jansen. "I'm very frustrated. Life sometimes is a fairytale. Everything was going well and I just got stopped with AFib (atrial fibrillation), and here I am just got to figure out how to get back out of this mess."

The Dodgers went quietly in the ninth, with Jordan Hicks striking out Cody Bellinger, Brian Dozier and Chris Taylor to earn his fifth save.

"Tonight he had better command than he did the other night," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Hicks. "It's real velocity and for him to command the ball down in the zone to the glove side, it's tough. It gets on you quick. He was a lot better than he was the other night. He was."

Dakota Hudson (4-0) got the win with one inning of relief. 

Los Angeles loaded the bases in the eighth, but Manny Machado grounded out to end the inning. The Dodgers stranded 30 runners in the three-game series and were swept for just the third time this season, and first since May 13 against the Reds.

"The execution has to be there, but you can't force the execution," said Roberts of the hitting with runners in scoring position in the series. "We had a couple opportunities, not too many, you can hope/expect, but right now it's just not happening for us."

It was the first sweep for the Cardinals over the Dodgers since July 2010, and their first sweep at Dodger Stadium since July of 2006.

Pinch-hitter Tyler O'Neill homered in the top of the eighth off Scott Alexander, tying it 1-all.

Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler dueled in a stellar matchup of rookie pitchers, although neither figured in the decision.

"Walker pitched a tremendous game and went pitch-to-pitch with Flaherty," said Roberts. "He put is a position to win a baseball game and we weren't able to get it done. We have to find a way to win."

Flaherty held the Dodgers hitless through 5 1/3 innings. Joc Pederson broke through after Buehler struck out leading off the sixth, slugging his 19th homer to right field for a 1-0 lead. 

Flaherty gave up just that one hit in six innings. The 22-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank struck out 10 and walked two on 101 pitches.

Buehler scattered three hits over seven innings, struck out nine and walked two on 104 pitches.

"When I missed, I missed in the right spots," Buehler said of his outing and career-high nine strikeouts. "When I missed it wasn't in the middle."

In his last five starts, Buehler has been virtually unhittable, allowing just four runs for a 1.11 ERA with 38 strikeouts and nine walks over that span.

"In this age of baseball I think that's kind of an old-school number," said Buehler of his ERA over his last five starts. "There's some stuff I look at, WHIP is a big one. If you look at guys like Kershaw and Scherzer and these guys that are the elite of the elite, and there WHIP is low. If you don't let people on, they don't score."

The Dodgers have lost three in a row and they dropped four and a half games behind NL West-leading Arizona in pursuit of a sixth straight division title. 

Despite the loss, the Dodgers became the first team in the Major Leagues to surpass the three-million mark in attendance this season (3,036,253). It is the seventh consecutive season they've passed the three-million milestone.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: Placed OF Marcell Ozuna on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation after he received a cortisone injection. INF Yairo Munoz (right wrist sprain) was activated from the DL. 

Dodgers: LHP Julio Urias (left shoulder surgery) came out of his 2 1/3-inning outing at Class A Rancho Cucamonga "feeling good," according to manager Dave Roberts. Urias will get three days off before the team decides where he goes next.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: After getting Thursday off in Denver, RHP Miles Mikolas (13-3, 2.80 ERA) starts the series opener against the Rockies. His victories are the most by a first-year St. Louis pitcher since Kyle Lohse in 2008.

Dodgers: After a day off, LHP Rich Hill (5-4, 3.73) starts the series opener at home Friday against San Diego. He's 4-4 with a 3.44 ERA vs. the Padres while holding their batters to a .199 average.