Cardinals 7, Dodgers 0: St. Louis dominates opener

Allen Craig and David Freese brought the power on Friday night while Lance Lynn brought the gas, leading the National League-best Cardinals to a 7-0 dusting of the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Freese and Craig each homered, doubled and drove in three runs off Chris Capuano, who has allowed 18 runs in just 17⅓ innings at home this season, including five home runs.

That was more than enough support for Lance Lynn, who pitched six scoreless innings for the Cardinals. Lynn allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out nine, matching A.J. Burnett and Mike Minor for most punch outs against the Dodgers in a game this season.

The entire Dodgers offense on Friday night consisted of a first-inning single by Carl Crawford, a third-inning double by Juan Uribe, a sixth-inning walk by Uribe, and an eighth-inning infield single by Skip Schumaker. The Dodgers not only couldn't bunch together positive offensive outcomes together in the same inning. They couldn't get anyone on base for two innings in a row on Friday.

With two outs in the second inning a throwing error by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez allowed Jon Jay to reach base, then Freese doubled him home for a 1-0 lead. But at the time the play looked even more costly as Jay barreled into catcher A.J. Ellis at the plate. Ellis lay motionless on the ground for some time, but after a visit from trainer Sue Falsone and manager Don Mattingly, Ellis was not only able to get up under his own power but he stayed in the game.

Down 4-0, Capuano was able to pitch into the sixth inning but only faced two batters. After Jay singled, Freese hit a home run into the Dodgers bullpen in left field that was so high it may have scraped the moon on the way out.

Notes

• Matt Guerrier followed Capuano on the mound and entering the seventh inning his May included seven strikeouts and no walks. But after walking the first two batters of the seventh inning Guerrier hit Craig, and ultimately allowed a run. On the season, Guerrier has eight walks and nine strikeouts in 19 innings.
• Dee Gordon entered the game on a double switch in the sixth inning and went 0-for-2 at the plate, extending his slump to 0-for-24. Gordon's last base hit came on May 13.
• The Dodgers have been out-homered at Dodger Stadium 26-15 this season.
• Pinch hitter Tony Cruz popped out to first base in the eighth inning for the Cardinals, dropping players named Cruz to 2-for-39 (.051) at Dodger Stadium this season.

Friday's particulars

Home runs: Allen Craig (3), David Freese (2)

WP - Lance Lynn (7-1): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts

LP - Chris Capuano (1-3): 5+ IP, 6 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 3 walks, 4 strikeouts