LOS ANGELES聽鈥 The only previous time Jack Flaherty started a game at Dodger Stadium, he was in high school, and before the game began he and his teenage teammates sat in the stands and marveled at how unfamiliar the ballpark felt without a big-league crowd, how empty it was.
The seats were filled Wednesday.
Only the Dodgers felt empty.
Two rookie pitchers, Flaherty and LA righthander Walker Buehler, engaged in a zippy, postseason-like exchange of zeroes through five innings Tuesday before the game was decided in the ninth by the Cardinals鈥 knack for late shows of force. Tyler O鈥橬eill tied the game with a solo home run in the eighth inning, and Paul DeJong won it with a two-run shot in the ninth for a 3-1 victory against the Dodgers. The seats started to empty as Jordan Hicks handled the ninth, leaving only the Dodgers to spectate as he struck out the side looking.
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The Cardinals鈥 win, their 23rd since the All-Star break, completed the first sweep of the Dodgers in LA since 2006. The Cardinals widened their lead on the Dodgers to four games in the wild-card race.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a hungry group,鈥 manager Mike Shildt said. 鈥淎nd once you have success, you want more. There is no satisfaction in this game. The game doesn鈥檛 rest or hold up for anybody. It鈥檚 a hungry group that shows up and builds on what they鈥檝e done.鈥
Said DeJong: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just been a snowball effect for us, the momentum. We came in here and played our game, played hard, and I think we just outplayed them for three games.鈥
The Cardinals (71-57) remained 2陆 games behind the Cubs (72-53) in the National League Central and did not add to their lead atop the wild-card standings.
Buehler outpaced Flaherty鈥檚 start with seven shutout innings to funnel a 1-0 lead to the Dodgers鈥 corrosive bullpen. O鈥橬eill鈥檚 pinch-hit homer was his first in the majors, and DeJong鈥檚 home run was the third the Cardinals hit in the series off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. The righthander returned from the DL on Monday night and allowed two homers to tilt that game to the Cardinals, and on Wednesday offered LA what it usually adores 鈥 a sequel. Jedd Gyorko shattered his bat on a single to left field to start the rally and DeJong punctuated it. Hicks held the lead for his fifth save by catching hitters looking at the following called strike 3s: 102.4 mph, 101.7 mph, and 102.5 mph.
Hicks final four pitches were all taken, too fast to too much for a bat to move.
鈥淗icks was filthy,鈥 Shildt said.
The 21-year-old reliever finished a game that was won by a 23-year-old righthander, Dakota Hudson, because of home runs by a 23-year-old outfielder and a 25-year-old shortstop. All of that to finish a game started by 22-year-old Flaherty, the third rookie pitcher the Cardinals started against the Dodgers in the series.
鈥淭hese guys have the ability,鈥 Shildt said, 鈥渁nd they have the aggression.鈥
Flaherty took a no-hitter through five innings in his return home to the ballpark where, he said, 鈥淏aseball kind of started for me.鈥 One batter into the sixth, he had his 10th strikeout. Two batters into the sixth, he was down 1-0 on a solo home run by Dodgers leadoff hitter Joc Pederson. The jolt came off an 83-mph slider that Flaherty knew had been socked a long way as he doubled over after hearing it crack off Pederson鈥檚 bat.
That was the only dent in his six-inning start, and through 6陆 innings it was the only run allowed in a taut pitching duel between two of the league鈥檚 top young pitchers.
Two years older and drafted one year after Flaherty, Dodgers righthander Buehler set a career high when he got his ninth strikeout as he tried to tiptoe around a threat from the Cardinals in the seventh inning. Down by a run, Gyorko lined a double down the left-field line, just out of the reach of third baseman Justin Turner. Buehler struck out DeJong for the second time in the game to unplug the Cardinals鈥 ability to tie the game with productive outs. He got a grounder from Kolten Wong for the second out, and that brought a familiar face to the plate in Harrison Bader.
Buehler, a Vanderbilt alum, faced Bader back in their college days of SEC baseball. In his first look at Buehler on Wednesday, Bader walked. He was left stranded at third. The next time, Bader lined out to center. With Gyorko on third base in the seventh, a base hit would have tied the score.
Bader flared a pitch to shallow left field.
That鈥檚 where shortstop Manny Machado greeted it for an out.
In the eighth inning, Machado, the prize landed by the Dodgers in this past July鈥檚 trade sweepstakes, had a chance to reclaim the lead for the Dodgers. Against rookie setup man Hudson (4-0), the Dodgers loaded the bases. An error at third by Gyorko made it possible just as a diving play by Matt Carpenter at first base gave Hudson a reprieve and kept a run from scoring. With two outs and nowhere to put him, Machado saw sinker after sinker from Hudson. He dutifully grounded out to end the threat.
The Cardinals swept the series one inning later.
鈥淎s long as it鈥檚 close,鈥 Flaherty said, 鈥渨e鈥檝e got a chance.鈥
Back in 2013, one year before the Cardinals drafted him 34th overall, Flaherty and his Harvard-Westlake team played in a CIF Southern Section title game at Dodger Stadium. Earlier this week, Flaherty said he didn鈥檛 romance the chance to get on the Dodger Stadium mound back then, didn鈥檛 let his mind wander to whether or not he would return there someday, in a paid capacity. He said he thought nothing 鈥渆lse but go out and compete.鈥 That he did. Flaherty struck out seven and threw Harvard-Westlake to a 1-0 win in the championship.
With a full count and two outs in the third inning, Flaherty stung the single that provided the game鈥檚 lone run. The opposing coach told The Los Angeles Times after the game that Flaherty was the 鈥渞eal deal.鈥
The Cardinals lured him out of a commitment to North Carolina with one of the largest bonuses in his slot of the draft, and within four years he鈥檚 not only ascended to the majors but become the starter the Cardinals are shifting the rotation around. The team sees what DeJong said late Wednesday night: 鈥淛ack鈥檚 becoming an ace.鈥
Flaherty had his start pushed back a week ago so that he would face three consecutive teams grouped around the Cardinals in the standings. It also meant that he would get the series finale at Dodger Stadium, not too far from his North Hollywood high school and his home. All week he was surrounded by family. On Monday, he saw a familiar face, ran over, and hopped a barrier rope just to throw his arms around the taller gentleman for a hug.
Robert Horry, a seven-time champ NBA, hugged Flaherty back.
鈥淔amily friend,鈥 Flaherty explained. 鈥淔or many years.鈥
On Monday, during the game, Flaherty sat near catcher Yadier Molina, who did not start that game. The two talked about how to approach each hitter in the Dodgers lineup and how one Dodgers鈥 swing might be avoided by the slider and another鈥檚 might be tied up by a curve. As he stretched Wednesday in the Dodger Stadium outfield he continued running through those conversations, pausing every so often he said to 鈥渢ake in the moment.鈥
Flaherty鈥檚 voice was starting to fray and soften by the second day of his Dodger Stadium visit, but it didn鈥檛 take long Wednesday for him to clear his throat. Flaherty struck out the first two batters he faced, getting No. 2 hitter Turner fishing at a slider in the dirt for the second out. He walked Machado, and then buckled Cody Bellinger with a 78-mph knuckle curve. Flaherty seesawed through the order like that for most of the game. He had his 95-mph fastball that Machado couldn鈥檛 catch up to in the fourth inning for a strikeout, and then he had the two breaking balls that he could fillet hitters with at any point.
In the fifth inning, Flaherty again struck out the side. Brian Dozier stared at an 86-mph changeup. Max Muncy fell for the 86-mph slider for a second time in the game, and Yasiel Puig punished his bat for not connecting on an 85-mph slider to end the inning.
Puig snapped the bat over his knee.
After Pederson鈥檚 homer with one out in the sixth, Flaherty retired the next two batters he faced to complete the quality start. He was replaced for the seventh inning having thrown 101 pitches, 100 of which did not result in a run or a hit. The one slider was the only scar in his homecoming. In the Cardinals鈥 clubhouse a day before he returned to the Dodger Stadium, he considered what the outing meant to him and quickly described how it wasn鈥檛 just this one start that stood out, and it was just any start at Dodger Stadium.
鈥淗opefully, it鈥檚 the first of many,鈥 Flaherty said. 鈥淭he first of many.鈥