Dodgers vs. Cardinals Game Highlights (5/19/23) | MLB Highlights

On a Friday night in St. Louis, it's time for Cardinals baseball. It's game two of our four-game set with the Dodgers. Steven Matz, he is the man tasked at keeping this rolling. Still looking for his first win on the season. Freddie Freeman had himself quite a night last night. Swings and lifts this one to left field. Down the line, it drops in for a hit. First ball swinging was Freeman. He's around first, chugging for second. Here's the throw. Freddie slides feet first, and he is safe with a double. A hustle double for Freddie Freeman. His 15th two-base hit. And now Freddie with a nine-game hitting streak. Three-two, just outside. Ball four. And Smith has reached for an 18th consecutive game. Two on, one out. Just underway. The pitch. In the air towards center. And plenty of room for a nut bar. Freeman thinks about tagging. He will move from second to third. Runner advances, but that costs L.A. Out number two. Taylor, off to a slow start, hitting a buck 86. The big problem for Chris has been strike three. He's struck out 39 times in 112 at-bats so far this year. Pulled a string, and he throws Taylor. Strike three. Strands a pair of Dodgers in the top of the first. Tony Gonsolin, who fired five scoreless innings against the Padres, his last time out. Paul walked three times last night and scored three times. And ball four. So, a one-out walk. That's the first Cardinal baserunner. And here's Nolan Arnato. Arnato is 14 for 47 during a nine-game hitting streak. A 3-2 pitch. Runner goes. Swing. A little looper into shallow center. That's going to get down for a hit. And the Birds have him first and third. And Contreras is coming up with two outs here in the first. 2-2 pitch. Tap back to the mound. Gonsolin's there. It's a long first inning, but it's a scoreless first inning on 30 pitches for Tony. Miguel Vargas facing Steven Matz. 1-2 pitch is belted to left field. Going back on it is Donovan. He'll watch it bounce off the warning track and off the wall. Rumbling around first and into second, standing with a leadoff double, is Miguel Vargas, his 11th double of the season. Miguel Rojas, Vargas' second one away. And he slaps the first pitch into right field in front of Mercado for a base hit. Vargas wasn't sure that that was going to land, so he'll just go up to third and stay there on a first pitch base hit for Miguel Rojas. And now two men out. The order will flip over to the top and Mookie Betts. Sharply hit, but out of line and caught it short. DeYoung is there. Hit him right in the pocket, and Steven Matz works around a leadoff double. Our game is scoreless heading to the home second. J.D.'s 0-for-1. He flied to center in the first. Smoked down the line just past Arenado. Extra bases for J.D. Martinez. Martinez hangs out with a two-out double. Chris Taylor bats with a runner in scoring position. He swung on and Mastey struck him out. Four strikeouts for Matz, second time he's gotten Taylor. Standard batter, James Altman, pretty good against lefties. 264 overall. Altman cracks one into right, and then the ninth pitch, he's got a base hit. Fifth hit of the game for the Dodgers, traffic in all four innings against Matz. As Matz facing Trace Thompson, who is 0-for-his-last, 32 at the plate. Struck him out. Matz paints a corner. The Dodgers strand another runner. Three K's with three walks in this game for Tony Gonsolin. Line drive, snared by Rojas. What a catch by Miguel Rojas. You've got seven guys behind you that can field, too. Wow. Got some ups. There's a little bit of age in these legs, but there's still some elevation. And those sweet shoes. In the bottom of the fourth. One ball, one strike on Mookie Betts. Line to short. Chopper. Arnado. Low throw, and wow. Rarely are those two going to combine on a defensive misplay. Would have been a good play, but it's a play we expect him to make, just because of how great he always is over there. Here's Freeman. Lifting the first pitch to the left field corner. Donovan started on, now goes over and recovers. Not the straightest route, but makes the catch. Betts advances to second. One-two. He went around. It was off speed. Several options for Matz. He picked the right one, and that's the second out. Six strikeouts for Matz. They're going to assess a balk, it looks like, and Mookie's going to get to third. Steven Matz was called for a balk. He got on the rubber and then made some sort of a flinching motion and was called for a balk. He buckled at the knee and started to go to the stretch and stopped. Three at-bats for Chris Taylor, and three times he finds himself up there with a run-scoring chance and two out. On another 2-2 pitch, Taylor hits a liner to left. Dodgers take the lead, and it scoots by Donovan. Betts can walk home. Chris Taylor comes through with a two-out double, and the Dodgers crack through here in the fifth inning. And in with a two-out run-scoring double is Chris Taylor, and the Dodgers lead it 1-0. It's over 100 pitches for Matz, an unearned run so far for the Dodgers. Two outs on six pitches. There's not been many parts of today where it's been like that. Slap to center field. Altman is there. Tony Gonsolin gets through five, and they are five scoreless innings as ERA close to one on the year. Brewster Graterol as the bullpen goes to work in the six. Two, three, and four. Goldschmidt, Gorman, and Arenado. Lifted to center field. Altman back. Trouble. And he caught it. James Altman saves the day. He can't hold back a smile. And he makes a great catch. Oh, what a play by James Altman up against the wall, taking extra bases away from Paul Goldschmidt. A terrific catch. You know, Arenado would like to make up for the bad throw that led to the first and only run of this game. Hammers that one down the line. That kissed the chalk, it looked like, but it's ruled foul. Cardinals are going to take a look at this. This is about as close as it gets right here. Oh, boy. Just outside of it. That was close. Bouncing ball to second. To second for one. Rojas to first. A double play. And the inning is over in an inning marked by spectacular defense. And he got hit with a two-strike pitch. So this hasn't worked out as we'd hoped. A walk and a hit batter. And Will Smith is up two on and nobody out. Swing and a miss. Right on by. Smith strikes out for the second time here tonight. J.D. Martinez is the man at the plate. And another swing and a miss. Hicks blows away. Smith and Martinez. So he has a chance to clean this up himself. And Max Muncy has grabbed a bat. He's got a pinch hit here for Taylor. On the ground. We ought to be out of it. Great job by Hicks. Two on, nobody out. And the Dodgers can't get the ball out of the infield. Vargas has a double in this game. Base hit left center. Another multi-hit game for Miguel Vargas. The two of them in this series have been racking them up lately. Pitch. Ball four outside. A four-pitch walk to the pinch hitter Peralta. That will push Vargas into scoring position over to second base. And here comes Mookie. Drilled the left center field. Back it goes. Goodbye, Betts. First pitch ambush. And a three-run home run. Number 10 of the season from Betts. And the Dodgers can take a deep breath from 1-0 to 4-0 here in the eighth. RBI's 26, 27, and 28. Freeman now drills on the right center field. That is pretty well hit. And one hops the wall. Freddie Freeman, another extra base hit. His second one of the game. Now Will Smith and his seven-game hitting streak snapped last night. He's 0-3 tonight with a walk. Struck out twice. Grounds one through. Base hit the other way. Freeman heads to the plate. He'll score standing up. Will Smith on an 0-2 pitch just pokes it through the vacated right side and makes it 5-0. A Dodger debut here. This is Tyler Sear who's 30 years old out of Fremont, California. Debuted in the majors last season. One strikeout, one ground ball, one more out for the Dodgers' fourth shutout. 1-2 from Sear. A fly ball to left center field. Altman is back there with Peralta. And the Dodgers pitch a shutout one day after the Cardinals get 16 runs. Baseball, again, unpredictable as can be. Just incredible. And the Sears even at a game apiece.