(Photo credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images)
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



















