Tommy Edman drove in three runs to power the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers past the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday 7-3 to avoid a three-game sweep.
Hyeseong Kim drove in two runs and Mookie Betts hit a homer for the Dodgers.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (1-0) allowed one run on six hits in five innings. He struck out seven.
Alec Burleson (2-for-3, run, RBI) and Willson Contreras (2-for-4, run, RBI) paced the Cardinals offense.
St. Louis starter Michael McGreevy (1-1) allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out five.
After going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position Saturday, the Dodgers started 0-for-3 Sunday. Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a double, then he stayed put as Betts and Freddie Freeman lined out and Teoscar Hernandez grounded out.
The Dodgers broke through in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Max Muncy and Will Smith hit singles, then Edman hit an RBI single and Kim lined a two-run triple into the right field corner.
Smith led off the fourth inning with a triple and scored on Edman’s double to make it 4-0.
The Cardinals cut their deficit to 4-1 in the fifth inning on singles by Burleson and Pedro Pages followed by Masyn Winn’s RBI double.
Contreras hit a double in the sixth inning, moved to third on Herrera’ single and scored on Burleson’s sacrifice fly to cut the Los Angeles lead to 4-2.
Betts increased the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2 with his seventh-inning homer.
St. Louis cut that margin to 5-3 In the bottom of the inning. Ryan Vilade walked, went to third on Donovan’s two-out single and scored on Contreras’ RBI single.
The Dodgers opened up a 7-3 lead in the eighth inning as Cardinals reliever Matt Svanson lost control, hitting two batters and walking two. The runs scored on Edman’s sacrifice fly and a passed ball.