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Dodgers seek to rebound in St. Louis

Aug 7, 2013 - 2:43 PM (Sports Network) - The road winning streak is history for the Los Angeles Dodgers and they'll try to bounce back Wednesday in the third portion of a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Dodgers had won a franchise-record 15 straight road games, but dropped a 5-1 decision on Tuesday. Clayton Kershaw was saddled with the loss even though he allowed just two runs in six innings.

Adrian Gonzalez drove in the lone run and Carl Crawford finished 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Dodgers, who had a five-game winning streak stopped but are still an impressive 32-8 in the last 40 games.

"We had chances but we didn't execute," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "We had a couple of men in scoring position and we didn't take advantage of those spots."

Los Angeles leads the NL West by five games ahead of Arizona and is 15-3 since the All-Star break. The club is also unbeaten in its previous 13 series, going 9-0-4.

Ricky Nolasco, who was 5-8 in 18 starts with Miami before he was dealt to L.A., gets the call Wednesday for the Dodgers. He is 2-1 with a 3.54 earned run average in five starts with his new club, which is unbeaten the last three times he has taken the hill.

Nolasco lasted five innings and was reached for three runs in Thursday's 6-4 win at the Chicago Cubs and struck out six batters -- his highest total as a member of the Dodgers.

The right-hander beat the Cardinals with seven innings of one-run ball in a 7-2 win back on June 16, but is only 2-4 with a 4.18 ERA in 10 career games (9 starts) against them. Four of Nolasco's five starts with Los Angeles have come on the road.

St. Louis has won four of six games and remained two games in back of Pittsburgh for the NL Central lead. Matt Adams and Carlos Beltran both homered Tuesday for the Cardinals and starter Joe Kelly evened his record at 3-3 by tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball.

"They're a really good team obviously, winning 15 in a row (on the road)," said Kelly, who outdueled Kershaw. "Kershaw is a stud, everyone knows that, but to have an all-around, good team win like that is awesome."

The Cardinals will hand the ball to Shelby Miller on Wednesday and he is 3-1 in his previous four decisions. Miller benefited from great run support in a 13-3 drubbing of Cincinnati on Friday and lasted five innings, charged with five hits -- one of which was a three-run homer.

Miller is 11-7 in 21 starts with a 2.89 earned run average and the Cardinals are 4-1 in his past five outings. The right-hander posted a no-decision against the Dodgers on May 26 at Chavez Ravine and was touched for three runs in 5 1/3 innings of a 5-3 victory.

In two career games (1 start) against L.A., Miller is 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA.

The Dodgers lost two of three versus St. Louis from May 24-26 at Chavez Ravine.