Cardinals outlast Kershaw, Dodgers in NLDS Game 1

Clayton Kershaw dominated through the first six innings, working with a four-run lead and making it appear as if a victory was within easy reach.

Then baseball's best pitcher flopped.

Matt Carpenter hit a go-ahead, three-run double off Kershaw in an eight-run seventh inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 10-9 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a fiery National League Division Series opener Friday.

"I couldn't hold it, it's a terrible feeling," Kershaw said. "It doesn't feel good right now. I don't think it will feel good for the rest of the night."

Kershaw retired 16 in a row between homers by Randal Grichuk in the first and Carpenter in the sixth.

But he collapsed in a shaky seventh, when he gave up five of the Cardinals' eight runs and became the first pitcher in post-season history to allow seven runs in consecutive starts. He yielded that many in losing Game 6 last year.

"I left some fastballs over the middle of the plate," Kershaw said. "They got some good hits. That's what they do, they ride momentum."

Kershaw fell to 1-4 with a career 5.20 earned-run average in the post-season.

He resented any suggestion that he tipped his pitches out of the stretch.

"That's discrediting their team when you start thinking about that," Kershaw said. "That's just a cop-out."

St. Louis held on when Trevor Rosenthal blew a 100-mile-per-hour fastball past Yasiel Puig with a runner on third to end a back-and-forth game that lasted nearly four hours.

Game 2 is Saturday night.

In a matchup of 20-game winners, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright hit Puig with a pitch leading off the third, triggering a bench-clearing scrum. There was shoving and shouting, but no punches were thrown.

Pedro Baez came on and walked Grichuk. Matt Holliday followed with a three-run homer, silencing the 54,265 blue towel-waving fans and extending the Cardinals' lead to 10-6.

Kershaw allowed a two-out homer to Carpenter in the sixth that left St. Louis trailing 6-2.

Unfriendly confines

Wainwright, a 20-game winner with the NL's third-best ERA of 2.38, struggled mightily in the third and fourth innings at Dodger Stadium, where he has never been at his best. The right-hander allowed a pair of two-out runs in both innings, with the Dodgers taking a 4-1 lead.

Marco Gonzales got the victory in one inning of relief. Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth to earn the save.

The early scrum clearly fired up the Dodgers, who took a 2-1 lead in the third.

After getting drilled, Puig went to take first base and Gonzalez began jawing with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

Molina and Gonzalez went face-to-face yelling and soon both benches and bullpens emptied, creating a scrum around home plate. There was shoving and shouting, but no punches were thrown. Puig later gave Wainwright a friendly pat as he took his base.

Mike Ellis, who hit .191 during the regular season, went 4-for-5, including a two-run homer in the fifth that chased Wainwright. Ellis also scored three runs.

Puig had two hits with three runs scored and a RBI; Kemp was 3 for 5 with an RBI; and Crawford had two of the Dodgers' 16 hits with a run scored and a RBI.

The bad vibes between the two teams extend to last year.

That's when Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez in the ribs in the NLCS opener, limiting the shortstop for the rest of the matchup. The teams traded hit by pitches earlier this season, too.

Ramirez got things going with two outs in the third, singling past diving second baseman Pete Kozma as Puig scored from second to tie the game at 1. Crawford's ground-rule double into deep right field scored Ramirez, who had stolen second.

Puig singled with two outs in the fourth, scoring Ellis who singled leading off. Kemp's RBI single made it 4-1.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA) is making his fourth consecutive post-season appearance with the Cardinals since reaching the majors in 2011. His five playoff wins are tied for third-most all-time on the club, trailing Chris Carpenter (10) and Bob Gibson (seven).

Dodgers: Zack Greinke (17-8, 2.71) says the Cardinals' hitters make adjustments better than most other teams, citing CF Jon Jay who went from chasing off-speed pitches one year to becoming good at handling them the next.

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