ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals tagged Clayton Kershaw in the seventh inning for the second straight time, riding Matt Adams’ go-ahead, three-run homer to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday and a fourth straight trip to the National League Championship Series.
Following their 3-1 win in the best-of-five series, the Cardinals await the San Francisco Giants or the Washington Nationals with their rotation well-rested for the NLCS, which starts Saturday. They would open at home against the Giants or at the Nationals.
Trevor Rosenthal allowed two runners in the ninth before getting Carl Crawford on a game-ending groundout for his third save of the series.
Kershaw allowed one homer to left-handed hitters while going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA in the regular season. He gave up two to the Cardinals, with Matt Carpenter connecting in the opener. The left-handed ace is 0-3 with a 9.72 ERA in his last three postseason appearances, including St. Louis’ clinching Game 6 victory in the NLCS last year.
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