Hanley Ramirez Debuts But Cards Walk-Off With Win

Dodgers 2 8 1

Cardinals 3 6 0

F/12

WP- Salas (1-3)

LP- Wright (4-3)

Before the game the baseball world was abuzz over the blockbuster trade the Dodgers made with Miami. While we were all wrapped up in the Ryan Dempster drama, the Dodgers were busy snatching up Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins. If Hanley wasn’t prize enough, the Dodgers also acquired lefty reliever Randy Choate in the four-man trade. While it is somewhat bittersweet with the loss of promising youngster Nathan Eovaldi, we had to give up someone to obtain the much-needed infielder we were so desperately seeking. Hanley Ramirez seems happy to start a new chapter with the Dodgers, and I’m extremely excited to watch him play alongside Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for at least the next two seasons. The Dodgers are not done shopping yet, but in the meantime we have some baseball to be played in hot Missouri. The temperature in St. Louis at game time was 102°. It was a pitcher’s duel between Aaron Harang and Kyle Lohse through most of the game, but neither would be involved in the decision. The teams’ horns were locked until the bottom of the twelfth inning when Jamey Wright served up the winning walk-off single to former Dodger Rafael Furcal.

Bobby Abreu leads off with a failed bunt attempt. Mark Ellis and Matt Kemp both ground out as the Dodgers go down in order in the first inning against Kyle Lohse.

The Big Show goes to the mound for the Dodgers in the bottom half of the first. Rafael Furcal pops out, and Jon Jay strikes out. Matt Holliday draws a two-out walk. Carlos Beltran pops out to A.J. Ellis behind the plate to end the inning.

In the second inning, Andre Ethier strikes out to start off. In his very first at bat, Hanley Ramirez TRIPLES to  center field! Welcome to the team! Hanley scores his first run as a Dodger on a James Loney sacrifice fly, and the Dodgers take a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, Allen Craig draws a lead-off walk followed by a Yadier Molina single. David Freese grounds into a double play, but a run scores with Craig allowing the Cards to tie the game up 1-1.

In the third, the Dodgers can only muster a Abreu single.

Aaron Harang has a nice 1-2-3 inning for the bottom half of the third.

Ethier doubles with one out in the fourth. Ethier takes third on a deep fly ball to left field by Hanley Ramirez. Loney hits a soft liner to end the inning and strand Dre at third.

Matt Holliday whiffs against Harang to begin the bottom of the fourth. Carlos Beltran reaches safely on a rare Loney error. The ground ball went right by the first baseman and into right field. That’s only Loney’s second error on the season. Craig strikes out, and Molina flies out to left. No damage is done.

In the fifth, A.J. Ellis hits a one-hopper double off the wall with one out. The Dodgers are unable to cash in Ellis, and the game remains tied.

David Freese leads off with a double in the home half of the fifth. Freese advances to third on a groundball by Skip Schumaker. The opposing pitcher, Kyle Lohse, hits a fly ball deep enough for Freese to score on. The Cards take a 2-1 lead. Furcal strikes out to end the inning and the carnage is held to one run.

Mark Ellis leads off the sixth with a double. Matt Kemp strikes out swinging, and he has gone 0-for-3 so far tonight. Dre flies out. Hanley Ramirez singles in his third at bat, and he picks up the RBI as Ellis scores. The game is tied at two apiece.

Aaron Harang whiffs Jon Jay to start off the bottom of the sixth. Dre makes a nice running catch in foul territory to retire Holliday. Beltran strikes out, and Harang has now only allowed two hits over six innings of work.

Luis Cruz opens the seventh with a clean single to center. A.J. Ellis grounds into a double play. Harang strikes out to end the frame.

Molina is Harang’s eighth strikeout victim and the second out in the bottom of the seventh. Harang sends down the side in order. What a great performance from Harang!

Kyle Lohse pitched 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 runs, no walks, and 4 strikeouts on 106 pitches.

Mitchell Boggs, the right-handed reliever, is in to pitch the eighth inning for St. Louis. The Dodgers go down 1-2-3.

Aaron Harang begins the eighth inning after 102 pitches. Skip Schumaker walks to lead-off the inning. Daniel Descalso bunts Schumaker over to second. Furcal walks on a borderline 3-2 pitch. Scott Elbert is brought into relieve Harang with one out and two runners on here in the eighth. Elbert walks Jay for the third walk of the inning, and the bases are loaded. Elbert is hooked after just five pitches. Ronald Belisario will be coming in to try to get out of this jam. With one pitch Belisario gets Holliday to hit into an unassisted double play by Mark Ellis!

Aaron Harang pitched 7 1/3 solid innings, only allowing 2 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts on 116 pitches.

Jason Motte comes in to pitch the ninth for the Red Birds. Ethier flies out, Ramirez hits a comebacker, and Loney flies out.

Belisario is in for the bottom of the ninth, and he pitches a 1-2-3 inning with a little help from Luis Cruz. Yadier Molina hits a hot grounder to third, and Ramirez can’t handle the odd hop but Cruz never gives up. He picks the ball up, and he fires to first to get the out!

We go to the tenth. Juan Uribe singles with one out to break a streak of 10 Dodgers retired in a row by Cardinal pitching. But the Dodgers can do little else.

Josh Lindblom will pitch the bottom of the tenth for the Dodgers. Freese singles right away off Lindblom. Tyler Greene will pinch-run for Freese. The Dodgers get lucky, and they pick off Greene! Big out. Lindblom walks Schumaker. Mattingly goes out to hook Lindblom, and he’s really mad about the strike zone. The umpire goes out to the mound, and Donnie is yelling and gets ejected from the game. He continues to argue with the umps on his way out of the game. Randy Choate comes in to make his first relief appearance as a Dodger since being acquired with Ramirez. Choate is a left-handed sidearm pitcher. Matt Carpenter strikes out against the new Dodger. He induces a groundball out from Furcal for the third out.

Fernando Salas is in for the top of the eleventh. Matt Kemp strikes out for the third time and goes 0-for-5 on the night. The Dodgers are retired in order.

Choate gets the first out in the bottom of the eleventh, and then Trey Hillman comes in to make the pitching change. Jamey Wright comes in for his 34th appearance of the season. Holliday promptly singles. Beltran and Craig both ground into force outs. We head to the twelfth inning.

Hanley leads off for the Dodgers in the top of the twelfth and draws a walk. He ends up going 2-for-4 with a triple, single, walk, RBI, and run in his Dodger debut. Loney of course strikes out, and he goes 0-for-everything tonight. Cruz whiffs as well. A.J. flies out.

Lance Berkman draws a one-out walk against Wright in the bottom half of the twelfth inning. Schumaker makes the second out by whiffing wildly. Matt Carpenter singles, but pinch-runner Joe Kelly trips and has to stop at second. Furcal singles home the winning run, and the Cardinals walk-off with the win.

The Giants lost earlier in the day, so the Dodgers remain 2 1/2 games back as they fall to 53-46. Tomorrow the fourth game of the series will start in the morning at 10:45 am. Chris Capuano will go up against Jake Westbrook.