Cardinals Spoil Ramirez's Dodgers Debut With Walk-Off Hit In 12th
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Rafael Furcal singled home the winning run with two outs in the 12th inning and the St. Louis Cardinals dampened the Dodgers debut of Hanley Ramirez, beating Los Angeles 3-2 Wednesday night.
Ramirez tripled on the first pitch he saw with his new team. The three-time All-Star infielder, acquired late Tuesday night from Miami, went 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored once and hit an RBI single in sixth that made it 2-all.
Lance Berkman, who left a day earlier with a bruised right knee after being hit by a pitch, drew a one-out walk as a pinch hitter in the 12th from Jamey Wright (4-3). Matt Carpenter singled with two outs and Furcal drove home pinch runner Joe Kelly.
Fernando Salas (1-3) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his first victory since July 9, 2011, against Arizona.
Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse went seven innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts. He also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Aaron Harang was even sharp for the Dodgers, giving up just two hits and two runs in 7 1-3 innings.
Ramirez helped the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead in the second when he tripled off the wall in center and scored on James Loney's sacrifice fly.
After St. Louis grabbed a 2-1 advantage on Lohse's sacrifice fly in the fifth, Ramirez tied it with a two-out single in the sixth.
Ramirez played third base, the spot he moved to with the Marlins to make room for new shortstop Jose Reyes. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he plans to put Ramirez at shortstop when the former NL batting champion is comfortable with the switch back to his old position.
Mattingly was ejected by home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg for arguing balls and strikes while on the mound during a 10th-inning pitching change. The ejection was the fifth this season for Mattingly.
NOTES: David Freese had two hits for St. Louis. He is batting .565 (13 for 23) during an eight-game hitting streak. ... Dodgers starter Chris Capuano (10-5) can match his win total for 2011 with a victory Thursday. He'll have to reverse some history -- he is winless in five career games at Busch Stadium (0-3, 7.04 ERA). ... Lohse's quality start was the 20th in a row for the Cardinals.
