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St. Louis • Matched against ace Clayton Kershaw, the only thing Michael Wacha lacked was a no-hit watch.

"He's becoming a guy a lot of teams wish they drafted," teammate David Freese said. "What he's done is remarkable, especially on this stage."

Wacha stared down a bases-loaded test in the sixth inning and pitched into the seventh, and the kids in the bullpen also were impervious to October pressure, keeping the Los Angeles Dodgers bats silent for the second straight day and winning 1-0 Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the NL championship series.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words to describe him," said fellow rookie Kevin Siegrist, who got a big out to end the seventh. "It's kind of ridiculous how well he's done so far."

The Cardinals managed only two hits off Kershaw and the Dodgers, but Jon Jay's sacrifice fly set up by Freese's double and A.J. Ellis' passed ball in the fifth stood up.

The Dodgers' scoreless streak in the NLCS reached 19 innings after they averaged 6 ½ runs in a four-game division series against Atlanta. Rookie fireballer Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth with a heater reaching 101 mph, fanning pinch-hitter Andre Ethier on three pitches to end it.

A day after outlasting Los Angeles 3-2 in 13 innings, the Cardinals moved two wins away from the World Series.

Game 3 is Monday at Dodger Stadium, with Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright facing rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu. The Dodgers have already used their top two starters and have nothing to show for it.

"We don't get too far ahead of ourselves," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We don't deny also what's happened here the last two days.

"Those were two very good wins, two very tough wins when you face starters like that."

Hanley Ramirez and Ethier were out of the Dodgers' lineup with injuries after starting in the opener. Los Angeles missed a handful of opportunities, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position for a two-day total of 1 for 16. Star rookie Yasiel Puig struck out in all four of his at-bats.

"We had our chances," Kershaw said. "We had our chances, for sure. You've got to give a lot of credit to Wacha."

The teams may have been hindered by shadows creeping across Busch Stadium in a late-afternoon start, with lights providing no real help. Both also were no doubt fatigued, which might have shown on the crucial passed ball by Ellis that wound up resulting in an unearned run. —

Cardinals 1, Dodgers 0

Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

C.Crawford lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .300

M.Ellis 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .333

Ad.Gonzalez 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .200

Puig rf 4 0 0 0 0 4 .000

Uribe 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .200

Schumaker cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000

c-Ethier ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .167

A.Ellis c 3 0 1 0 0 0 .250

Punto ss 3 0 1 0 0 2 .250

Kershaw p 2 0 1 0 0 0 .500

a-M.Young ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Belisario p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Howell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Totals 32 0 5 0 1 13

St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

M.Carpenter 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .286

Beltran rf 2 0 0 0 1 1 .250

Holliday lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Y.Molina c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .286

Freese 3b 3 1 1 0 0 0 .125

Descalso 3b 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

Ma.Adams 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Jay cf 2 0 0 1 0 0 .000

Kozma ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 .000

Wacha p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Siegrist p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Choate p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Ca.Martinez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

b-S.Robinsn ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Rosenthal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Totals 24 1 2 1 2 5

—

Los Angeles 000 000 000 — 0 5 0

St. Louis 000 010 00x — 1 2 1

—

a-flied out for Kershaw in the 7th. b-flied out for Ca.Martinez in the 8th. c-struck out for Schumaker in the 9th.

E—M.Carpenter (1).

LOB—Los Angeles 6, St. Louis 2. 2B—A.Ellis (1), Freese (1). 3B—M.Carpenter (1). RBIs—Jay (1). SB—M.Ellis (1). SF—Jay.

Runners left in scoring position—Los Angeles 5 (Puig, Punto, Uribe 2, M.Young) St. Louis 1 (Y.Molina). RISP—Los Angeles 0 for 6 St. Louis 0 for 4.

GIDP—Holliday.

DP—Los Angeles 1 (Punto, M.Ellis, Ad.Gonzalez).

Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Kershaw L, 0-1 6 2 1 0 1 5 0.00

Belisario 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Howell 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00

St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Wcha W, 1-0 62⁄3 5 0 0 1 8 0.00

Siegrist 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Choate 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Ca.Martinez 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Rosenthl S, 1-1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0.00

Inherited runners-scored—Siegrist 1-0. IBB—off Wacha (Ad.Gonzalez). WP—Siegrist 2. PB—A.Ellis.

Umpires—Home, Mark Carlson First, Mike Everitt Second, Bruce Dreckman Third, Ted Barrett Right, Gerry Davis Left, Greg Gibson.

T—2:40. A—46,872 (43,975)