Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run off Ryan Franklin in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 walkoff win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Dodgers, who also avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals. Jonathan Broxton, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, picked up the victory for the Dodgers.
It seemed like the run by St. Louis in the top of the ninth off Broxton -- an RBI single by David Freese, knocking in Matt Holliday, who had three hits and two doubles in the game -- would be enough to ruin a great pitching performance by Chad Billingsley. The Cardinals had scored 66 runs in their previous seven games, including 29 in the first three contests this weekend at Dodger Stadium, but Billingsley shut them out for eight innings.
"He was great today," manager Don Mattingly said of Billingsley. "I kept letting him go and he was clean all day. His stuff was good and sharp. That club is on fire, so to stop that momentum there was huge." Billingsley had 11 strikeouts against just two walks on the day.
The Dodgers next host the Atlanta Braves for four games, beginning Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ted Lilly will face Tim Hudson in the series opener tomorrow night.
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