Blown chance- Dodgers rough up Cardinals' Isringhausen

ST. LOUIS -- Eric Gagne slammed the door on the St. Louis Cardinals after Jason Isringhausen let another one get away.

Isringhausen blew his third save in six games Saturday, opening the door for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-2, 11-inning victory in a battle of division leaders. Gagne, who escaped a bases-loaded jam with no outs a day earlier, this time retired the top of the Cardinals' lineup in order for his major league-leading 32nd save in 34 chances.

Gagne can sympathize with Isringhausen's plight.

"I don't really have enough experience to say exactly what he's going through, but I can feel it because the last 2 1/2 years I've been struggling and now I'm doing good," Gagne said. "But he's got unbelievable stuff and it won't last long."

Eric Karros' RBI double off Isringhausen tied it in the top of the ninth. Isringhausen has blown three of his last six save opportunities and has 19 saves in 23 chances this year.

"I'm fine," Isringhausen said. "Every bad pitch I make right now is getting smacked."

Jeff Reboulet drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the 11th inning. The NL West-leading Dodgers have taken two of three in a four-game series that will take the teams to the All-Star break. The NL Central-leading Cardinals fell to 6-6 on their 13-game homestand, their longest of the season.

David Roberts coaxed a leadoff walk from Steve Kline (0-1) in the 11th after being down 1-2 in the count. Paul Lo Duca singled and Shawn Green walked to load the bases, also after falling behind 1-2 in the count.

Right fielder Miguel Cairo, who came in as a defensive replacement in the 11th, dropped Reboulet's fly ball trying to make a quick relay. Roberts came home and Reboulet was credited with an RBI while Cairo got an error.

"Cairo tried to rush the play," manager Tony La Russa said. "They were going to get one anyway."

Maybe not. Roberts said if he had it to do over again, probably wouldn't have tried to score.

"With nobody out, I could have been more cautious with Brian Jordan at the plate," Roberts said. "But it worked out for the best."

Mark Grudzielanek added a one-out sacrifice fly for a two-run lead.

Paul Quantrill (1-2) pitched the 10th before Gagne took over.

Kline (0-1) lost for the first time since July 3, 2001 at Milwaukee.

"I just choked," Kline said. "I'm paid to get those lefties and I didn't get them."

Eli Marrero's home run off Giovanni Carrara gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the eighth. Carrara had allowed only one earned run in his previous 13 2-3 innings.

Cardinals starter Woody Williams left after five innings with back spasms. He and Dave Veres combined to retire 14 straight batters after Brian Jordan's homer with one out in the fourth. Veres worked three perfect innings, striking out four, before the Dodgers got to Isringhausen in the ninth.

Lo Duca, pinch-hitting in the ninth, got a leadoff single and scored on Eric Karros' one-out drive to the gap in right center. Karros went to third on the throw home, but stayed there when Isringhausen recovered to strike out Jordan and Mark Grudzielanek. Isringhausen retired the side in the 10th.

Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo allowed one run on three hits in seven innings. Nomo retired 12 batters in a row before walking Albert Pujols to start the seventh, but Pujols was quickly eliminated when Tino Martinez grounded into a double play.

"I wanted to pitch a little more," Nomo said through an interpreter. "But the team won and I'm happy with that."

Williams allowed four hits, striking out four and walking one. He took a few hard swings in his at bat in the fifth before taking a called third strike for the third out, but said that was no factor in his injury.

"It wasn't one pitch and I didn't feel it any certain time," Williams said. "It just got to where it was unbearable."

Williams scored the Cardinals' first run when he doubled to lead off the third. He advanced on a groundout and came home on Placido Polanco's one-out groundout.

Noteworthy

Williams picked off his second runner of the season when he caught David Roberts at second, who had started the game with a double. ... Fernando Vina is 0-for-13 against Nomo.

Jordan, who homered for the first time in eight games, has five solo shots and six with one on.

Nomo is 7-0 in ten starts since a loss at Florida on May 12.

Polanco was 0-for-5, ending a nine-game hitting streak.