Cards grab early 3-run lead, add on to put away Dodgers

Nolan Gorman and Alec Burleson each hit home runs, Jordan Walker had four hits and the host St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to five games with a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

Matthew Liberatore (1-1) gave up two runs on five hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings as the Cardinals returned from a four-game sweep at Pittsburgh to win in the opener of a three-game series and six-game homestand.

Walker capped his third career four-hit game with a two-run double in the seventh inning as St. Louis improved to 11-5 since April 14. Relievers George Soriano, Gordon Graceffo and Matt Svanson held Los Angeles scoreless over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Max Muncy had an RBI double and Kyle Tucker brought home a run on a sacrifice fly as the Dodgers lost their third consecutive game and fell to 5-8 since April 18.

Emmet Sheehan (2-1) gave up four runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings as he pitched at St. Louis for the first time.

Trouble arrived early for the Dodgers as Sheehan balked in a run during the first inning when he failed to inform umpires that he was switching from the windup to the stretch position during the same at-bat.

Six pitches later, Sheehan gave up the two-run home run to Gorman, his fifth of the season, as the Cardinals took a 3-0 lead.

The Dodgers got a run back in the second when Muncy's double to the wall in left-center scored Andy Pages from first base.

St. Louis made it 4-1 in the third when Burleson hit a home run to right field, his fifth.

Los Angeles cut the deficit in half on Tucker's sacrifice fly in the sixth.

The Cardinals took complete control in the seventh, getting Walker's two-run double and a run-scoring ground ball by Nathan Church to take a 7-2 advantage.

The 12-hit game from the Cardinals came after they had 14 hits in a 10-5 victory over the Pirates on Thursday.

--Field Level Media