Garcia outpitched by Kershaw as Cards lose 2-0 to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- Jaime Garcia has made four starts for St. Louis since missing the first 40 games of the season while recovering from thoracic outlet surgery, and the Cardinals have been shut out in three of them.

Of course, it's no embarrassment to lose to Clayton Kershaw -- especially when Garcia's teammates got only one hit and struck out 11 times against the reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner in a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.

"Kershaw's the best pitcher in the game, so you know you've got to bring your best," Garcia said. "It was a tough one. That's always a tough team to play against. They've got a good lineup over there, and I paid the consequences."

Garcia (1-3) gave up three singles through the first six innings, and two of those runners were erased on double-play grounders. Chris Heisey, however, led off the seventh with a double and scored on Yasiel Puig's opposite-field double to the fence in right-center.

Justin Turner drove in Puig with a single that deflected off second baseman Pete Kozma's glove. In all, Garcia was charged with two runs and six hits over seven innings. He struck out six and walked none.

Cardinals pitchers have allowed 10 runs in their last seven games, including 7-1 and 2-1 victories in the first two games of this four-game series. The Dodgers' only run Thursday came on a sacrifice fly, and their lone run Friday came on a bases-loaded walk.

"Our pitching's been carrying us," first baseman Mark Reynolds said. "Those guys have done a great job for us, and eventually we'll start hitting the ball and scoring some runs for them so they don't feel like they have to make a perfect pitch every time. But it's tough sledding when sometimes you're facing these tough pitchers."

Kershaw, who led the majors in ERA each of the past four seasons, lowered his mark this year to 3.36 and retired his first batter in every inning. The left-hander allowed his only hit in the second on a sharp single by Randal Grichuk that was just out of the reach of shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

"I was just throwing strikes and hoping for the best," Kershaw said. "I just executed some fastballs away that were pretty well located and tough to put a bat on. This was probably the best slider-curveball combination I've had in a while, so tonight I felt like I could use both -- which helped."

Kershaw struck out Reynolds, Yadier Molina, Kozma and Peter Bourjos -- all looking -- in a span of five batters during the second and third.

"He was tough, man. He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes," Reynolds said. "He kept me off balance all night. He was pitching away from his tendencies. He threw a lot of fastballs away, which he normally doesn't do. And when you're looking inside, it's tough to pull the trigger on the pitch away."

The Cardinals beat Kershaw in the finale of the 2013 NL Championship Series and the final game of the 2014 Division Series, making him 0-4 with a 7.15 ERA in his last four playoff starts against them. During the regular season, he is 6-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 15 starts against St. Louis.

"We've got such a history with those guys these last few years, especially in the playoffs," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. "That's a really good team, a really competitive team, and there's not many secrets between us and them, so it comes down to executing. And that was probably the best game Clayton's had all year, as far as execution goes."

Kershaw threw 75 of 106 pitches for strikes, but one of his fastballs hit Matt Carpenter on the right triceps in the first inning. The Cardinals' third baseman played three innings in the field and struck out in the fourth before coming out of the game.

In the opener of last year's Division Series, Carpenter homered and hit a three-run double against Kershaw.

Puig was back in right field in his first game off the disabled list, going 1 for 3 after missing the previous 39 because of a left hamstring strain.

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in as many chances. It was his first appearance since sitting out Wednesday's game at Colorado because of high blood pressure caused by the altitude in Denver.

Up next

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (4-4) is 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA in his last five starts. He has yet to allow a home run in 26 career innings against the Dodgers, going 3-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 32 strikeouts in five starts.

Dodgers: RHP Zack Greinke (5-1) will try to bounce back from an ugly start at Colorado last Tuesday.