Dodgers’ road trip ends with loss to Cardinals and return to second place

ST. LOUIS – The exchange rate on frequent-flier miles is not great.

The Dodgers left Los Angeles 10 days ago, trailing the Colorado Rockies by 1-1/2 games in the National League West. They went to three cities, traveled nearly 4,000 miles and won key series in Colorado and St. Louis.

And gained one game in the standings for all that.

The Dodgers dropped out of first place Sunday night, managing only four hits in a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals after the Rockies won their afternoon game in San Francisco.

They return home for another showdown series in Los Angeles with the Rockies, trailing them by a half-game with 12 games to play.

“To win a series here against a good club over there, we did what we wanted to accomplish,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re a half-game back now of the Rockies. We’ve got those guys at home. So we’re excited about that. Our ‘pen is lined up. We’ve got Ryu, Clayton and Walker going. So we’re in good shape.”

The National League West race has been fought in a phone booth. Three different teams have led the division but no one team has had a lead greater than 1-1/2 games since July 1 (when the Diamondbacks ended the day leading the Dodgers by 2-1/2). This is the seventh time in 16 days this month the Dodgers are either up or down a half-game in the standings.

“I feel destiny is in our hands, sort of,” Dodgers starter Ross Stripling said. “We head home and take of our business against the Rockies, we’ll be in good shape.”

The momentum was all theirs after a 17-4 rout Saturday gave them a four-game winning streak. But it was turn-back-the-clock night at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

The Cardinals one-time ace, Adam Wainwright, has spent most of this season on the sidelines, dealing with an elbow injury. Sunday was only the sixth start of what could be the 37-year-old Wainwright’s final season. But it was vintage Wainwright.

“He’s a big-game pitcher,” Roberts said. “You gotta expect his best and that’s what he brought. You saw his emotion. He knew how much that club needed that lift, that start. To see him execute like that – I’ve seen it for many years.”

Wainwright’s curveball was one of baseball’s best pitches during his prime. It was again Sunday. He shut down a Dodgers’ offense that had scored 53 runs in the previous seven games (29 in the three wins over the Cardinals), giving up only two hits and walking two in six scoreless innings. Wainwright struck out nine. Only Justin Turner, who doubled down the right-field line in the first inning, made it past first base in the first six innings.

“The curveball has always been his pitch. He was spotting it where he wanted to put it,” Cody Bellinger said. “Uncle Charlie — it’s so big and slow. You see it and you swing and it’s not there.

“It’s an unusual curveball. That’s the word I would use. Most curveballs are firm and don’t break as big.”

Things were plenty firm in the seventh inning. The Dodgers’ best chance to break through came when Bud Norris walked the first batter he faced then left with a blister. Flame-throwing reliever Jordan Hicks came in and walked Bellinger.

Touching 104 mph on the radar gun, though, Hicks retired six of the next seven Dodgers, three on strikeouts – one on a called third strike to Manny Machado who beefed with home-plate umpire Eric Cooper to no end.

“That was the one chance we had,” Roberts said. “But that’s a tough at-bat. Left-handed, right-handed – you don’t see 104 very often. He was sitting at 100. That’s tough to square up.”

The Dodgers failed to hit a home run for the first time since Aug, 20. The 23-game homer streak was the longest in Los Angeles history (one short of the franchise record set in Brooklyn in 1953) and the longest in the majors this season.