LOS ANGELES (AP) — If the St. Louis Cardinals end up meeting the Los Angeles Dodgers in the postseason for the third straight year, the seven games they played in June will only add to their confidence against them.

And Jhonny Peralta will be a big reason why.

Peralta homered and singled home the go-ahead run during a three-run eighth inning Sunday night, leading the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory. The shortstop was 11 for 21 with two home runs and eight RBI during the seven-game season series, which they won 5-2 against the team they knocked out of the playoffs in each of the previous two years.

“Jhonny’s a real difference maker. He’s been putting together some good at-bats and getting some big RBI for us,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We’ve been firing him into that cleanup spot, but he’s fit wherever we’ve put him. He’s just a guy who’s going to sneak up on you like he did tonight. The next thing you know, he’s got three hits.”

Matt Carpenter drew a leadoff walk from reliever Adam Liberatore, and scored the tying run on a triple down the right-field line by Matt Holliday that skipped past Yasiel Puig — who was playing his second game after missing 39 because of a strained left hamstring.

Holliday’s hit came off Juan Nicasio (1-2). Peralta, who leads St. Louis with 34 RBI, followed with his clutch hit and scored on Mark Reynolds’ one-out double to left-center.

“Last year, Jhonny blew us away with the consistency of his defense, and this year it’s his ability to get the big hit,” Matheny said. “Coming from the shortstop position, that’s pretty impressive. Jhonny is real content with who he is on our club. He’s just doing his part, and he’s been doing it very well.”

Kevin Siegrist (3-0) pitched one inning for the victory, striking out the side in the seventh on 17 pitches. Trevor Rosenthal, the sixth Cardinals pitcher, threw a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 20 attempts.

The NL West-leading Dodgers were coming off a 2-0 victory Saturday night in which Clayton Kershaw held St. Louis to one hit over eight innings. Carpenter was back in the Cardinals’ lineup after taking a fastball to the right triceps from Kershaw in the first inning of that game, forcing him out three innings later.

Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke held the team with baseball’s best record to six hits through 6 2/3 innings and struck out eight, giving up his only run in the sixth on Peralta’s ninth homer. But the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner remained winless in six starts — a frustrating stretch in which he’s allowed just one run in five of them.

Manager Don Mattingly removed Greinke after 99 pitches with a runner on first and brought in Liberatore, who fanned Kolten Wong to end the inning.

“It makes a lot of sense, what they did,” Greinke said. “Liberatore’s been amazing getting lefties out all year.”

Cardinals right-hander Lance Lynn threw 98 pitches over five innings, allowing two runs and six hits while striking out five. He has yet to give up a home run in 31 career innings against the Dodgers, going 3-1 with a 4.35 ERA and 37 strikeouts in six starts.

Lynn, who was knocked out of a start at Dodger Stadium against Greinke last June because of a blister on his middle finger, got a visit from Matheny and a trainer after the Dodgers opened the fifth with Greinke’s second single of the game and a walk to Joc Pederson on the right-hander’s 92nd pitch.

Lynn retired the next three batters on flyballs, using six more pitches before Mitch Harris took over to start the seventh.

“Lance just had some forearm tightness,” Matheny said. “I noticed something just didn’t look right. The trainers inspected where it was, and they weren’t concerned. Everything was pointing that it’s OK and not that big of a deal, but we wanted to be smart about it. And at almost a hundred pitches, he’s about out of the game anyhow.”

Jimmy Rollins, who came to the plate in the Dodgers’ sixth with just two RBI in his previous 76 at-bats, was deprived of one by right fielder Jason Heyward — who charged his base hit and threw out Andre Ethier at the plate with the help of a lunging tag by Tony Cruz. Moments earlier, Ethier had stolen his first base of the season.

Puig singled with one out in the first and came all the way around on Justin Turner’s two-out double. Turner, starting in the cleanup spot for the third time in four games, made it 2-0 in the third with a two-out single that scored Greinke from second base after the pitcher led off the inning with his first hit.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP John Lackey (4-3) goes into the opener of a three-game series at cozy Coors Field having allowed just two home runs in his last 68 1/3 innings, spanning 284 batters.

Dodgers: RHP Mike Bolsinger (3-1) opposes former Dodger Rubby De La Rosa in the opener of a three-game set against the visiting Diamondbacks, who selected Bolsinger in the 15th round of the 2010 draft.

— Associated Press —

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw allowed one hit and struck out 11 in eight innings against his October nemesis, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 Saturday night with a big swing from Yasiel Puig in his return from the disabled list.

Puig snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh with an RBI double after missing the previous 39 games because of a strained left hamstring.

Kershaw (5-3) outpitched Jaime Garcia and lowered his ERA to 3.36. The left-hander led the majors in that category each of the past four seasons.

Kershaw lost to St. Louis in the finale of the 2013 NL Championship Series and the final game of the 2014 Division Series, making him 0-4 with a 7.15 ERA in his last four playoff starts against the Cardinals.

During the regular season, he is 6-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 15 starts against them.

The reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner set down Mark Reynolds, Yadier Molina, Pete Kozma and Peter Bourjos on called third strikes in a span of five batters during the second and third.

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in as many chances. It was his first appearance since sitting out Wednesday’s game at Colorado because of high blood pressure caused by the altitude in Denver.

Kershaw threw 75 of 106 pitches for strikes, but one of his fastballs hit Matt Carpenter on the right triceps in the first inning. The Cardinals’ third baseman played three innings in the field and struck out in the fourth before coming out of the game. In Game 1 of last year’s Division Series, Carpenter homered and hit a three-run double against Kershaw.

Garcia (1-3) allowed two runs and six hits over seven innings, struck out six and walked none in his fourth start of the season after missing the first 40 games while recovering from thoracic outlet surgery. The Cardinals have been shut out in three of his outings.

Garcia gave up three singles through the first six innings, and two of those runners were erased on double-play grounders by Chris Heisey and Jimmy Rollins, who has two RBI in his last 74 at-bats. But Heisey led off the seventh with a double and scored on Puig’s opposite-field hit to the fence in right-center. Justin Turner drove in Puig with a single that deflected off Kozma’s glove at second base and into short center field.

Cardinals pitchers have allowed 10 runs in their last seven games, including 7-1 and 2-1 victories in the first two games of this four-game series.

Puig was 1 for 3 with two strikeouts. He made two rehab appearances with Class A Rancho Cucamonga on May 7-8 before reinjuring his hamstring, then resumed his assignment with the Quakes on Thursday and was 3 for 7 with a double and a home run in two games.

CATCHING UP WITH KERSHAW

A.J. Ellis started behind the plate for the 18th time this season and ninth with Kershaw on the mound. Kershaw is 2/3 with a 3.43 ERA when Ellis is the starting catcher, and 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA in three starts with Yasmani Grandal as his batterymate.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (4-4) is 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA in his last five starts. He has yet to allow a home run in 26 career innings against the Dodgers, going 3-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 32 strikeouts in five starts.

Dodgers: RHP Zack Greinke (5-1) will try to bounce back from an ugly start at Colorado last Tuesday in which he gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings and ended up with a no-decision. Prior to that, he yielded fewer than two runs in five consecutive outings, but was just 1-1 during that stretch.

— Associated Press —