by Mark Langill
The Dodgers’ 3–3 split during their Aug. 4–10 homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays featured a historic matchup of strikeout artists, along with the duel display of Shohei Ohtani’s power in the batter’s box and on the pitcher’s mound.
But the finale left the Dodgers wondering what might’ve been following a frustrating 5–4 loss to the Blue Jays, ruining a chance for the Dodgers to sweep the team with the American League’s best record.
The homestand began with the Cardinals taking two of three games, their first series win over Los Angeles since 2019. St. Louis’ .478 winning percentage (154–169) at Dodger Stadium is the best among any National League visitor all-time.
During a 12–6 victory over the Cardinals on Aug. 5, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández each hit two home runs. It was the first time Los Angeles had four home runs in a game since hitting four against Minnesota on July 21, and the most runs scored since a 13–7 victory over Washington on June 22.
On Aug. 6, Ohtani struck out eight batters in four innings and had a no-decision in a 5–3 loss against St. Louis. Ohtani also recorded his 1,000th career hit on a 440-foot home run to center field in the third inning.
The series opener with Toronto on Aug. 8 marked the first Dodger Stadium matchup of pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts — Clayton Kershaw and Toronto’s Max Scherzer.
Kershaw scattered one run on seven hits in six innings in a 5–1 victory. Kershaw improved his record to 3–1 (including Postseason) when facing Scherzer.
Left-hander Blake Snell pitched his best game of the season on Aug. 9 in a 9–1 victory. Snell struck out 10 batters in five scoreless innings.
Snapshots: Kershaw wins one for the ages was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.