8th inning rally dooms Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- The Cardinals rallied for two runs in the eighth inning to spoil a great outing by Brett Anderson, while Carlos Martinez held the Dodgers in check for a 2-1 St. Louis win on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

Anderson pitched 7⅔ innings for his longest start since May 26, 2011, but it was the eighth inning that brought his demise.

After just 77 pitches through seven scoreless innings, Anderson cruised into the eighth, but the turbulence began with a four-pitch leadoff walk to Yadier Molina.

Molina was replaced by a pinch runner, then Jason Heyward hit a bouncer fielded by shortstop Jimmy Rollins behind second base. But Rollins, who had a much easier chance to throw Heyward out at first, tried unsuccessfully to get the lead runner with a flip to second baseman Kiké Hernandez.

"On the ball up the middle, I thought we had a good shot at second base," manager Don Mattingly said after the game.

After a sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position, Kolten Wong grounded to first base, but Adrian Gonzalez had no play on the speedy Wong, not helped by the fact that Anderson didn't cover first base, because he slipped coming off the mound.

That brought home the tying run, then Matt Carpenter lined out to right field for a sacrifice fly — the first ball hit out of the infield in the inning — giving the Cardinals the lead and ending Anderson's night much differently than he expected.

"Baseball is an infuriating game," Anderson said. "but it's also the best game in the world."

Anderson has allowed all of 12 runs in his last seven starts, putting up a 2.28 ERA during that span.

"You don't want to give up runs, and I did a good job until the eighth. There were some kind of fluky plays there, with the ball just out of reach to Jimmy making a play," Anderson said. "If I can continue to go out there every five or six days and give us a chance, I can live with that."

Scott Schebler, making his major league debut after getting called up earlier in the day, singled sharply to left field in his first at-bat in the second inning against Martinez. That was preceded by a walk to Alberto Callaspo and was followed by a Enrique Hernandez single to load the bases.

One out later, Joc Pederson walked for the 36th time this season, tied for the fourth-most in baseball in 2015, and his first with the bases loaded, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. But the Dodgers couldn't build on the lead, even with the bases still loaded and one out, as Rollins grounded into a 3-6-1 double play to end the threat.

That run snapped a streak of 21⅓ consecutive scoreless innings for Martinez, who allowed no runs in each of his previous three starts.

The Dodgers lead the National League with five bases-loaded walks this season.

Heyward beat a throw to first base on a force play in the fifth inning, a safe call that the Dodgers challenged. But the call was upheld, making the Dodgers 3-for-17 (17.6%) in replay challenges this season.

Trevor Rosenthal struck out Andre Ethier and Alex Guerrero in the ninth inning, then got Justin Turner to line out to right field to end the game, for his 18th save.

Friday particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Carlos Martinez (6-2): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts

LP - Brett Anderson (2-4): 7⅔ IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts

Sv - Trevor Rosenthal (18): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts