Thomas Saggese leads 5-homer outburst in Cardinals’ 13-8 win over Dodgers

By: Beth Harris, The Associated Press Posted: 12:33 AM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 2, 2026

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals hit five home runs, including a pair by Thomas Saggese and a two-run shot from Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker, in a 13-8 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

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Ramón Urías and Joshua Báez also went deep for the Cardinals, who had lost seven of nine while getting outscored 63-38 during that span. But the bats broke loose in this one as St. Louis scored its most runs in a game at Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles starter Eric Lauer (8-7) was tagged for seven early runs, five in the third inning.

St. Louis Cardinals' Thomas Saggese hits a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy went a combined 1 for 7 with three strikeouts for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts had four RBIs.

Los Angeles dropped to 28-2 when scoring at least eight runs this season.

Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy (6-9) allowed four runs and five hits with four strikeouts in five innings.

The Cardinals loaded the bases twice in the third while extending their lead to 7-0. Iván Herrera had an RBI single, Leo Bernal delivered a two-run single in his major league debut and Saggese added a sacrifice fly. Nathan Church reached on an infield single to second, scoring Bernal.

The Cardinals led 2-0 on consecutive homers by Urías and Saggese with two outs in the second.

Walker’s two-run drive off reliever Seth Halvorsen made it 9-3 in the fourth. Walker had just five homers in his previous 41 games since the All-Star break.

Saggese homered again with two outs in the fifth. Báez added a solo homer in the seventh for an 11-4 lead.

Dodges utilityman Kiké Hernández struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh and then gave up a leadoff hit in pitching the ninth, the 148th position player to pitch in the majors this season.