A line drive by Yohel Pozo in the top of the ninth, followed by two critical catches by outfielder Lars Nootbaar, allowed the St Louis Cardinals to snatch a late winner from the Los Angeles Dodgers on the west coast Monday, Aug. 4, defeating the NL West leaders 3-2.

Pozo’s single to right field came with two outs in the top of the ninth, scoring pinch-runner Garrett Hampson from third, and followed singles from Willson Contreras and Nootbaar with no outs. Despite a leadoff single from Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the ninth, Nootbaar’s fielding heroics emerged when he dove to grab a fly ball from Mookie Betts. Nootbaar would also make the final out, grabbing a line drive off the bat of Max Muncy, giving JoJo Romero his second save.

The Cardinals and Dodgers exchanged home runs for their first scores, with Masyn Winn leading off the second with his eighth home run of the year, followed by Freddie Freeman launching his 13th of the season in the bottom of the fourth. Iván Herrera’s two-out home run in the top of the eighth gave the Cardinals the lead back, only for an Andy Pages grounder in the home half of the inning to tie the game back up.

Cardinals pitching limited the Dodgers to three hits in the game, as starter Sonny Gray went seven innings and allowed the Freeman home run for his only hit. He recorded eight strikeouts while allowing one walk. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow also went seven innings in the no-decision, allowing one run on three hits and two walks while claiming seven punchouts. Despite the blown save, Riley O’Brien finished the eighth with just one run and one hit to claim his first win of the year.

The Cardinals are at 57-57, still 12 games behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead and 5.5 games behind the Padres for the third wild card spot. Miles Mikolas will get the start in the ravine Tuesday evening for St Louis, with first pitch from Dodger Stadium at 9:10 p.m.