Clayton Kershaw gave up two hits over seven innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers did just enough on offense for a 1-0 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
Kershaw (5-1) struck out nine with no walks in 88 pitches and won his fourth consecutive start, giving up just three earned runs and 13 hits in that 26-inning stretch.
Austin Barnes had an RBI single, while Freddie Freeman stole two bases and James Outman swiped another. It was the first time Freeman stole multiple bases in a game in his career. Los Angeles entered with the second-fewest stolen bases in the National League.
Cardinals starter Jordan Montgomery (2-4) was sharp, giving up one run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. He was coming off a hard-luck loss Monday at San Francisco, when he gave up a single unearned run. He has lost four starts in a row, although St. Louis has been blanked in three of them.
The Cardinals have now dropped seven of their first nine games on a 10-game West Coast road trip that started in Seattle and went to San Francisco before arriving in Los Angeles. St. Louis has also lost five of its last six games.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Barnes' RBI single to score Outman, who reached base on his own single, stole second and went to third on catcher Andrew Knizner's throwing error on the steal. It was the Dodgers' second stolen base in the game and 13th on the season.
Kershaw retired the first 13 batters he faced before Dylan Carlson delivered a clean single to center field with one out in the fifth inning. The left-hander then retired the Cardinals' next five batters before Paul Goldschmidt led off the seventh with a single.
The Cardinals altered their lineup in an attempt to kickstart a sluggish offense. Nolan Arenado was moved out of the cleanup spot and into the No. 3 hole, while Willson Contreras batted in the No. 4 spot. Arenado and Contreras combined to go 1-for-8.
Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
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