NLDS Game 4, Dodgers vs Cardinals final score: Cardinals beat Dodgers 3-2, advance to NLCS

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Matt Adams delivered the go-ahead home run as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers by a final score of 3-2 and advanced to the NLCS.

The Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t trust their bullpen. They knew they couldn’t trust their relievers to hold onto a 2-0 lead as Game 4 of the NLDS wore on into the late innings on Tuesday in St. Louis.

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So it was that manager Don Mattingly stuck with his guy. He stuck with Clayton Kershaw, the former Cy Young award winner, the guy who will win this year’s Cy Young, and the guy who might win this year’s National League MVP award. Having gotten burned by his bullpen all series long, Mattingly rode his ace.

It is hard to fault that plan, but once again it did not work out. Cardinals’ first baseman Matt Adams came up with two men on in the 6th inning, he got a pitch to handle from Kershaw, and he did not miss it.

Adams blasted a three-run home run, injecting life into the St. Louis crowd and gutting the Dodgers in the process.

Cardinals’ starting pitcher Shelby Miller did his part to give his team a chance to put together another comeback. He went 5.2 innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits and three walks. It wasn’t the prettiest outing, but it was effective enough to get the game to his bullpen. Four Cardinals’ relievers took it from there, with Trevor Rosenthal notching another save.

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It was not for shortage of opportunities that the Dodgers fell short. Look no further than the fact their first run scored on a double play ball from Matt Kemp. Yes, it scored a run, but it also threw ice water on what could have been a bigger rally. Juan Uribe drove in the team’s other run in the 6th inning with a single. The Dodgers then stranded two more runners in the 9th inning to end their season.

Ultimately the story of this game is Kershaw. The Cardinals saw Kershaw twice in this series and they beat him twice. When it comes to Game 4, however, Kershaw is simply on the wrong end of the narrative we will all construct.

If the Dodgers had put six runs up on Shelby Miller, we would laud Kershaw for going 6.0 innings and giving up three runs. We would talk about how it wasn’t pretty, but he came through like a star pitcher is supposed to come through.

Instead the loss falls on the Dodgers’ ace once again. A second loss makes it that much easier to point to that 7.82 ERA in the postseason and say Kershaw let his team down. Certainly his outings were disappointing, but it should not obscure the big picture here: the Dodgers lost as a team, with a leaky bullpen and lackluster offense costing them just as much as Kershaw did.

The Cardinals were better, and now they will play in the NLCS. Again. Like they always do.

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