ST. LOUIS (AP) — In a pivotal series for the Dodgers, rookie Walker Buehler came through with a masterful performance.

Buehler allowed two hits in eight innings, Yasiel Puig homered twice and Los Angeles drew even with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL wild-card race with a 3-0 victory on Friday night. The Dodgers also moved within one-half game of first-place Colorado in the NL West.

Buehler (7-5) pitched beyond the seventh inning for the first time and earned his first victory since Aug. 17. He retired the first 13 batters before Paul DeJong singled to left field. Harrison Bader singled later in the fifth for the Cardinals’ only other hit.

“This was probably the best pitching performance of the year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Not only Walker but across the board. Against a very good club in St. Louis on the road and obviously what’s at stake right now for each game. He wanted this moment and just coming out firing. His command. Just domination. He kind of did what he wanted to do tonight.”

Buehler struck out nine and walked two. In two career starts against St. Louis, the right-hander has not allowed a run and has 18 strikeouts in 15 innings.

“He’s got some serious weapons,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s throwing 97-98 (mph), with command. When you can locate your fastball, regardless of velocity, that’s a nice weapon. Then you do it with that velocity and then you do it with some cut. And his cutter, at least from the side, it looked like it had some depth. Then second time through the lineup, start mixing in a changeup and hitting with that, that’s a pretty potent weaponry right there.”

The Dodgers and Cardinals are tied for the second NL wild-card position, four games behind Milwaukee for the top spot. But Los Angeles has its sights on the division crown and moved closer when the Rockies lost to San Francisco.

“Sometimes there’s teams you match up well against,” Buehler said. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just the way the game works and luckily tonight that worked out.”

Puig homered in the second off Jack Flaherty (8-7) and connected again in the ninth off Tyler Webb. It was his second multi-homer game of the season.

“I was trying to do my best,” Puig said through a translator. “He threw a fastball there and I was able to connect with it. I can hit lefties sometimes and right there I was trying to find something up in the zone. I wasn’t expecting a home run but it happened.”

In the seventh, Cody Bellinger scored on a passed ball by Yadier Molina.

Kenley Jansen hit Yairo Munoz with a pitch to open the ninth but retired the next three batters to finish the two-hitter, earning his 35th save in 39 opportunities.

Flaherty worked six innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He has 168 strikeouts this season, the fourth-best total for a rookie in franchise history.

“We want to win. I don’t care about my line. I don’t care about anything other than winning,” Flaherty said. “It doesn’t matter how I pitched, I didn’t pitch well enough. He pitched better than I did.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: Relievers John Axford and Tony Cingrani were scheduled to pitch in the California Championship Series for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday night. “They’re stacking the deck, trying to help them make their playoff push,” Roberts joked. “They’re supposed to go an inning each. We’ll see how they come out of it. Our hope is to get these guys back.” Axford could return to the majors after one appearance, while Cingrani (shoulder) would likely need more rehab work.

Cardinals: IF Jedd Gyorko is likely to return to the starting lineup Saturday, manager Mike Shildt said. He drew a pinch-hit walk in the eighth inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Adolis Garcia.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals send right-hander John Gant (7-5, 3.16 ERA) to the mound Saturday afternoon to make his third career appearance and first start against Los Angeles. Veteran lefty Rich Hill (8-5, 3.88) starts for the Dodgers.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Manny Machado homered and drove in three runs to back Clayton Kershaw, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-7 Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between playoff contenders.

The Dodgers snapped a five-game losing streak against the Cardinals and moved to within one game of St. Louis for the final NL wild-card spot. The Cardinals, who went 22-6 in August, lost their second straight game and fell to 5-7 in September.

Kershaw (8-5), pitching at Busch Stadium for the first time since taking the loss in Game 4 of the 2014 NL division series, struck out eight in six innings, allowing four runs — three earned — on eight hits and two walks.

David Freese tripled on a 14-pitch at-bat against Austin Gomber to score Chris Taylor and Machado in the first. Matt Kemp followed with a single to score Freese.

Kershaw’s RBI single started a four-run fourth and drove Gomber (5-1) from the game. Taylor followed with an RBI double, and Justin Turner and Machado had sacrifice flies as the Dodgers went ahead 8-1.

Machado went 3 for 4, and his solo homer in the seventh traveled 417 feet to center.

It was Gomber’s first loss in the majors. The rookie left-hander went three-plus innings and gave up a career-high seven runs on nine hits.

Cardinals reliever Tyson Ross hit his second career home run in the fifth, sparking a three-run rally. He became the fourth Cardinals pitcher to homer this season, the most the team has had since 1966.

Matt Carpenter had a pair of singles and scored twice. Marcell Ozuna had two hits, an RBI and scored a run.

The Cardinals scored twice and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen needed 29 pitches to finish the game in a non-save situation.

FAN-TASTIC

The attendance was announced at 40,997, putting the Cardinals over the 3 million mark for the 15 straight season and 22nd overall.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: RHP Ross Stripling will move back into the rotation for Sunday’s game, moving LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu back to Monday and LHP Alex Wood to the bullpen.

Cardinals: C Yadier Molina (left hamstring tightness) returned to the starting lineup after missing six games. He went 0 for 1 with a walk before leaving the game after the fourth inning with St. Louis trailing by seven. “He feels like he can catch without any issue, and clearly he’ll be a little compromised on the bases,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s something that we’ll sacrifice him scoring maybe a run, of course clearly we might pinch-run for him late in the game if it’s applicable.”

UP NEXT

The Cardinals send RHP Jack Flaherty (8-6, 2.92 ERA) to the mound Friday night. The Dodgers will counter with RHP Walker Buehler (6-5, 3.09) in a rematch of a duel between the rookies in a 3-1 Cardinals win at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 22. Flaherty struck out 10 in that game, giving up one hit (a solo homer by Joc Pederson) in six innings, while Buehler allowed three hits and struck out nine over seven scoreless innings.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A small bump in the road.

That’s what St. Louis Cardinals infielder Paul DeJong says Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates was.

“At this point we’re flushing this one,” DeJong said. “And getting ready for L.A.”

The Cardinals begin a key four-game series against the Dodgers on Thursday. St. Louis leads Los Angeles by two games for the second NL wild card. The Dodgers beat the Reds 8-1 on Wednesday.

The Cardinals are 34-19 under new manager Mike Shildt. They have the most wins in the NL after the All-Star break with 33.

Outfielder Harrison Bader is confident St. Louis can break its two-year postseason drought.

“The best time to play our best baseball is towards the end of the season,” Bader said. “And I think we’re right there. Pitching, defense, offense, I couldn’t be more excited for these last few games.”

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill agreed: “We’ve been playing great in the late innings and had a lot of walk-offs this year. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done tonight. But we’ll be ready for what lies ahead.”

Jameson Taillon (13-9) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings Wednesday, leaving with a 4-1 lead after the first two Cardinals reached in the eighth. He has held opponents to three earned runs or less in his last 19 starts, the second- longest streak in the NL behind New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom with 26.

“His command and his control were at a premium,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “All of his pitches were in good sequence. It was all part of the package.”

Taillon has gone seven innings or more seven times this season and has limited opponents to two runs or fewer in all of those outings.

“Having a slider helps, it’s something else I can throw,” Taillon said.

Jose Martinez hit into a run-scoring forceout in the eighth inning against Felipe Vazquez, who allowed Patrick Wisdom’s run-scoring single in the ninth. Vazquez rebounded to strike out DeJong and Matt Carpenter with two on to end the game for his 22nd consecutive save and 32nd in 36 chances this year.

“He went to next-level stuff,” said Pittsburgh catcher Jacob Stallings, who drove in three runs. “To get those two punch-outs against those quality hitters was pretty spectacular.”

Pittsburgh has won six of eight. The Pirates won 11 in a row from July 11-24.

Daniel Poncedeleon (0-2), making his fourth start for St. Louis, allowed two runs and five hits in five innings.

Marcell Ozuna had a run-scoring single in the first for the Cardinals, but Stallings hit a sacrifice fly in the second, Jordan Luplow had a go-ahead single in the third, and Stallings boosted the lead to 4-1 with a two-run single off Mike Mayers in the sixth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: OF Gregory Polanco underwent surgery to repair an acute dislocation of his left shoulder on Wednesday. He was injured on Friday in a 5-3 win over Miami and is likely out for the rest of the season.

Cardinals: INF Jedd Gyorko was activated from the 10-day DL. He had been bothered by a left groin strain. … C Yadier Molina remains out with a sore hamstring.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Chris Archer (4-7, 4.56) will face LHP Gio Gonzalez (8-11, 4.40) in the opener of a three-game series at Milwaukee on Friday. Archer is making his eighth start for the Pirates after he was acquired from Tampa Bay on July 31.

Cardinals LHP Austin Gomber (5-0, 2.93) is to take on LHP Clayton Kershaw (7-5, 2.32) in the start of a four-game series against the visiting Dodgers on Thursday.

— Associated Press —