Dodgers 13, Cardinals 2

ST. LOUIS — Clayton Kershaw won his National League-leading 16th game and Rod Barajas homered twice in Los Angeles’ victory over fast-fading St. Louis Tuesday night.

Kyle Lohse (11-8) was rocked for a season-worst eight runs in three innings, an impossible deficit against the 23-year-old Kershaw, who struck out eight in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals have lost six of eight and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers.

Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the first and Barajas had a solo homer in the third and three-run shot in the fifth for his 11th multihomer game, also giving him four in five games. The Dodgers hit a season-high four homers while winning consecutive games in St. Louis for the first time since July 9-10, 2003, and will go for a three-game sweep on Wednesday behind Hiroki Kuroda.

Kershaw (16-6) is 8-1 with a 1.21 ERA in his last nine starts and hiked his NL-leading strikeout total to 207. The Cardinals threatened twice, but Kershaw struck out Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman with two on to end the first and struck out the side in the fourth to negate a double, infield hit and walk.

Kemp also doubled and scored in the second and needs one homer to become the second player in franchise history with 30 homers and 30 steals. Barajas is batting .381 (16-for-42) in August with five homers, three doubles and 16 RBIs in 13 games.

Yadier Molina and Rafael grounded into double plays to give the Cardinals 139 on the year, by far the most in the majors. Second baseman Skip Schumaker pitched the ninth and surrendered a solo homer to Aaron Miles, who had been the last Cardinals position player to pitch, twice last season.

Lohse had been 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA against NL West opponents before coming up empty, with half of the Dodgers’ eight hits for extra bases. The right-hander had won his previous three decisions.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa passed on a chance to cut into Kershaw’s cushion when he allowed reliever Mitchell Boggs to bat with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth. Boggs struck out on three pitches.

National League

Diamondbacks 2, Nationals 0 at Washington: Sean Burroughs hit a two-run home run and Ian Kennedy pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Arizona to a 2-0 win over Washington.

Brewers 11, Pirates 4 at Pittsburgh: Casey McGehee homered during Milwaukee’s seven-run second inning and the surging Brewers rebounded from a rare recent loss with an 11-4 win over Pittsburgh.

Phillies 9, Mets 4 at Philadelphia: John Mayberry Jr. hit another homer and Shane Victorino also went deep to back Vance Worley and help Philadelphia beat New York.

Reds 8, Marlins 6 at Miami: Yonder Alonso homered and drove in four runs, including a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning that sent Cincinnati to a victory over fading Florida.

Braves 5, Cubs 4 at Chicago: Craig Kimbrel tied a major league rookie record with his 40th save, Jason Heyward hit his first career grand slam, and Atlanta hung on to win their sixth straight, beating Chicago.

National League

Indians 7-7, Mariners 5-12 at Cleveland: Shin-Soo Choo’s three-run homer in the ninth inning gave Cleveland yet another dramatic win, 7-5, in the first game of a doubleheader briefly shaken by an earthquake.

In the second game, Anthony Vasquez won his major league debut with a ton of run support and fellow rookie Dustin Ackley had three RBIs as Seattle split a day-night doubleheader, taking the second game over the sinking Indians 12-7.

Royals, 6, Blue Jays 4 at Toronto: Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler homered, Bruce Chen won four consecutive starts for the first time in his career as Kansas City beat Toronto.

Athletics 6, Yankees 5 at New York: Brandon Allen hit two tape-measure homers, Eric Sogard connected for one that barely cleared the wall as Oakland hung on to beat New York.

Tigers 2, Rays 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Brad Penny pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Alex Avila had an RBI single and Detroit beat Tampa Bay.

Orioles 8, Twins 1 at Minneapolis: Alfredo Simon allowed one run and three hits in a career-high eight innings, and Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Reynolds both had three hits as Baltimore beat Minnesota.

Red Sox 11, Rangers 5 at Arlington, Texas: Adrian Gonzalez homered twice, Jacoby Ellsbury made an immediate impact in his return to the lineup and Boston finally won a game in Texas.

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 22 (UPI) — Aaron Miles keyed a two-run rally in the ninth inning with an RBI triple Monday, boosting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over St. Louis.

Trailing 1-0 entering their final at-bat, the Dodgers began the comeback when St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter hit leadoff man Juan Rivera with a pitch.

Newly acquired veteran Arthur Rhodes entered the game to strike out Andre Ethier but the next Cardinals pitcher, Fernando Salas (5-5), yielded a game-tying triple to Miles.

Miles then scored the go-ahead tally when Rod Barajas hit a hard grounder to shortstop Rafael Furcal with the infield drawn in. Furcal knocked the ball down but threw home too late to prevent the run from scoring.

Matt Guerrier (4-3) earned the win with a scoreless eighth and Javy Guerra picked up his 11th save for the Dodgers.

Dodgers starter Nathan Eovaldi went five innings, allowing one run on one hit — a home run by Lancer Berkman — while walking one and striking out two.

Carpenter allowed only one run on five hits over eight frames and Lance Berkman homered for the Cardinals’ only run.

ST. LOUIS, July 31 (UPI) — The St. Louis Cardinals Sunday acquired shortstop Rafael Furcal from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for a minor league outfielder.

Furcal is hitting just .197 with a .272 on-base-percentage in 37 games in an injury-plagued season this year. But he has shown signs of recovery lately, hitting .303 and driving in five runs in his last nine games.

The veteran shortstop, a two-time all-star with a career .283 batting average, has to approve the deal for it to become final.

In return, the Dodgers received 24-year-old Alex Castellanos, who had belted 19 home runs and was hitting .319 in 93 games for Class AA Springfield this season.

“We feel that Furcal will give us added veteran experience when it comes to a pennant race,” Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak said. “Rafael has been an excellent top of the order hitter and he brings plenty of athleticism and defense.”

The Cardinals entered Sunday’s play 1 1/2 games behind Milwaukee atop the National League Central.

“It’s one way to turn the page,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “We talked about getting that rock rolling in a different direction. It’s got to start somewhere and that’s a pretty good start there.”

Kemp homered to center field on a 2-2 pitch from Franklin (0-2), who has four blown saves in five chances. He did the same thing against Franklin in the series opener, but the Dodgers lost 9-5.

“He left one a little bit over the middle of the plate and I just kept my hands still,” Kemp said. “He’s got a really good sinker and a really good curveball and a cutter, so he moves the ball a lot. You’ve got to try to get a pitch in the middle and use your hands, and that’s what I did.”

He went 3 for 4 for his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, and his .474 average leads the majors.

Andre Ethier led off the ninth with a double to right field off Trever Miller, extending his major league-leading hitting streak to 14 games.

Jonathan Broxton (1-0) got the win despite giving up a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth by David Freese.

“It’s been one of these tough breaks now where things haven’t gone our way, but we’re not going to hang our heads,” Ethier said. “We found a way to bounce back.”

Dodgers 2, Cardinals 1

St. Louis 000 000 001–1 4 1

Los Angeles 000 000 002–2 7 1

St. Louis AB   R   H   BI   BB   SO   Avg.   

Theriot ss 4   0   0   0   0   1   .303   

Rasmus cf 4   0   0   0   0   3   .364   

Pujols 1b 4   0   0   0   0   0   .239   

Holliday lf 3   1   3   0   1   0   .441   

Berkman rf 3   0   0   0   1   2   .308   

Freese 3b 4   0   1   1   0   3   .360   

Y.Molina c 4   0   0   0   0   1   .244   

Descalso 2b 2   0   0   0   0   0   .250   

Carpenter p 1   0   0   0   1   1   .000   

a-Jay ph 1   0   0   0   0   1   .222   

Boggs p 0   0   0   0   0   0   .000   

Miller p 0   0   0   0   0   0   —   

Dodgers 2, Cardinals 1

LOS ANGELES — Ryan Franklin defended the sinker he threw to Matt Kemp that landed in center field and prevented the St. Louis Cardinals from sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was right where he meant to throw it, Franklin said, unlike in the series opener when Kemp homered off him but the Cardinals won anyway.

Kemp’s two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday gave the Dodgers a 2-1 win and ended their five-game losing skid.

“I made a good pitch. Anyone can go back and look at it. It was right on the corner and down,” said Franklin (0-2), who has four blown saves in five chances. “The pitch to Kemp the other night was a mistake. I was trying to get ahead with a first-pitch curveball in a 9-3 game and he hit the first pitch. So what?”

Matt Holliday went 3 for 3 and scored the Cardinals’ run. He batted .563 with five doubles and five RBI in the series.

In the Cardinals’ first three wins, they scored 29 runs and had 48 hits. Chad Billingsley made sure that didn’t happen this time, outpitching Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter allowed five hits over seven innings, struck out six and walked none. Billingsley gave up a season-low two hits over eight innings, struck out a season-high 11 and walked none in his longest outing of the season.

National League

Pirates 7, Reds 6 at Cincinnati: Andrew McCutchen opened the game with a homer against Edinson Volquez, then singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth for Pittsburgh.

McCutchen and Jose Tabata started the game with back-to-back homers. McCutchen singled off Logan Ondrusek (2-1) for the winning run.

Rockies 9, Cubs 5 at Denver: Dexter Fowler hit a two-out, two-run double to ignite a four-run eighth as Colorado won for the eighth time in nine games.

Diamondbacks 6, Giants 5 (12 innings) at Phoenix: Stephen Drew drove in Justin Upton with one out in the 12th inning, and Arizona rallied to beat San Francisco.

Padres 8, Astros 6 at Houston: Will Venable hit a two-run single in a four-run eighth and San Diego rallied for a victory.

Nationals 8-5, Brewers 4-1 at Washington: Danny Espinosa followed up a three-run homer in the opening game with a bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning of the second game that helped the Nationals to a doubleheader sweep. In the opener, Ivan Rodriguez also hit a three-run homer.

Phillies 3, Marlins 2 at Philadelphia: Carlos Ruiz hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth after an error by Florida.

Mets 3, Braves 2 at Atlanta: New York’s new No. 2 hitter, Josh Thole, had two run-scoring singles as the Mets ended their seven-game losing streak.

American League

Yankees 6, Rangers 5 at New York: Eric Chavez, filling in for an ailing Alex Rodriguez, singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning for the Yankees.

Indians 4, Orioles 2 at Cleveland: Grady Sizemore homered in his return for Cleveland after major knee surgery last year, and the Indians gave Baltimore its seventh straight loss.

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1 at Boston: Jacoby Ellsbury hit a three-run homer, Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in three runs and Jon Lester pitched six solid innings to carry the Red Sox.

Twins 4, Rays 2 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Brian Duensing allowed two runs over seven innings as Minnesota stopped a four-game losing streak.

Angels 4, White Sox 2 at Chicago: Dan Haren pitched into the seventh inning to improve to 4-0 as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep.

Mariners 3, Royals 2 at Kansas City, Mo.: Brendan Ryan had a two-run tiebreaking single as Seattle snapped a four-game losing streak.

Athletics 5, Tigers 1 at Oakland, Calif.: Josh Willingham broke out of a slump with a two-run single in the fifth and the Athletics won their second straight at home.

Updated Apr 17, 2011 8:23 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP)

Chad Billingsley cooled off one of baseball’s hottest offenses through eight innings before Matt Kemp got to Ryan Franklin again. This time, his homer salvaged a victory for the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kemp hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday that ended the Dodgers’ five-game skid.

”It’s one way to turn the page,” new Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. ”We talked about getting that rock rolling a different direction. It’s got to start somewhere and that’s a pretty good start there.”

Kemp homered to center field on the first pitch he saw from Franklin (0-2), who has four blown saves in five chances. He did the same thing against Franklin in the series opener, but the Dodgers lost 9-5.

”He left one a little bit over the middle of the plate and I just got my kept my hands still,” Kemp said. ”He’s got a really good sinker and a really good curveball and a cutter, so he moves the ball a lot. You’ve got to try to get a pitch in the middle and use your hands, and that’s what I did.”

He went 3 for 4 for his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, and his .474 average leads the majors.

Andre Ethier led off with a double to deep right field off Trever Miller in his final at-bat, extending his major league-leading hitting streak to 14 games.

Jonathan Broxton (1-0) got the win despite giving up a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth by David Freese.

The Dodgers avoided their first four-game sweep at home since Aug. 9-12, 1993, against Colorado.

”It’s been one of these tough breaks now where things haven’t gone our way, but we’re not going to hang our heads,” Ethier said. ”We found a way to bounce back.”

The victory prevented the Cardinals from earning their first four-game sweep in Los Angeles since 1968. Their four-game winning streak also ended after piling up 48 hits and 29 runs in the first three games of the series.

Chris Carpenter and Chad Billingsley dueled in a matchup of two of the National League’s best daytime starters over the last five-plus seasons.

Carpenter allowed five hits over seven innings, struck out six and walked none, and now has a 1.57 ERA in nine career starts against the Dodgers.

”I commanded the ball well. My cutter was good and I had command of my fastball on both sides of the plate and kept the ball down,” he said. ”I was trying to be aggressive in the strike zone and I was ahead in the count for the most part. That’s a pretty good lineup and every guy can hurt you in many different ways.”

Billingsley gave up a season-low two hits over eight innings, struck out a season-high 11, and walked none in his longest outing of the season.

”It was one of the best outings from a starter that I’ve seen in a while,” former Dodger Ryan Theriot said about Billingsley. ”He was cutting it and he was sinking it. He was throwing the cutter in and throwing it away, the sinker in and away. He had a big curve ball and a slider at 91 miles an hour. How many starters throw a slider at 91? He got me on it once.”

Mattingly let Billingsley go deep in part because the Dodgers’ bullpen has been so shoddy lately.

”He was clean all day,” Mattingly said. ”His stuff was good and sharp. That club is on fire, so to stop that momentum was huge.”

It was Kemp’s second career game-winning homer. The other came last June 1 in a 1-0, 10-inning win over Arizona.

The only other time the Dodgers advanced a runner to third came with two outs in the third. Tony Gwynn Jr. was safe at first on a fielding error by shortstop Ryan Theriot. He moved to third on Jamey Carroll’s infield single before Ethier lined out to first to end the inning.

Matt Holliday went 3 for 3 and scored the Cardinals’ only run. He batted .563 with five doubles and five RBIs in the series.

The Cardinals didn’t advance a runner to third until the eighth. Yadier Molina was safe at second when Ethier tried to shade his eyes with his left hand while attempting to make the catch in right field, but the ball dropped behind him for an error.

”I just overplayed it. I was at a tough angle,” he said. ”I looked down and took my eye off the ball.”

Daniel Descalso sacrificed Molina to third, but pinch-hitter John Jay struck out and Theriot flied to right to end the inning.

NOTES: Billingsley struck out 10 or more batters for the seventh time in his career and first since last Sept. 26 at Arizona. … The Cardinals’ streak of scoring six or more runs ended at seven games, something they hadn’t done since July 25-Aug. 3, 2004, when they did so in eight straight. … Kemp came in leading the majors with a .453 batting average and has now hit safely in 14 of the Dodgers’ 16 games. Last year, he led the team in homers with 28.