LOS ANGELES — The sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium was forced to believe what it just saw on Tuesday.
On the 25th anniversary of the biggest home run in franchise history — gimpy Kirk Gibson’s blast to beat Dennis Eckersley and the Athletics in Game 1 of the World Series — these Dodgers showed almost no fight while disappearing meekly into the night.
The Cardinals got home runs from Matt Holliday and Shane Robinson, enough firepower to secure a 4-2 victory in Game 4 of the NLCS, forcing 53,992 fans to swallow their blue rally towels.
With the game in the balance, the Cardinals bullpen combined for 3²/₃ scoreless innings, highlighted by Carlos Martinez’s two solid frames before Trevor Rosenthal worked the ninth for his second save in the series.
The Cardinals are within a victory of winning their 19th pennant and second in three years. But they were also in this position last October, up 3-1 in the NLCS, and lost three straight to the Giants.
About the only thing in the Dodgers’ favor for now is their two aces, Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, are lined up to pitch the next two games. Greinke will face Joe Kelly in Wednesday’s Game 5. If there’s a sixth game, it would be Friday at Busch Stadium.
“Kind of the best thought I have is I’ve got one of the best pitchers in baseball pitching [Wednesday],” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “If we come out here and play well and get a win, I’ve probably got the best pitcher in baseball pitching the next day.”
Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, in obvious pain from a hairline rib fracture, was removed after six innings on Tuesday and is questionable for the next game. Ramirez struck out three times before departing.
Nick Punto killed a potential Dodgers rally in the seventh, when he was picked off second base by Martinez after smashing a double with one out in the inning.
“That’s a lonely place to be,” Punto said of the pickoff. “I don’t wish that on anybody, but you’ve got to turn the page.”
Holliday snapped an 0-for-14 skid in the series with a mammoth two-run blast against Ricky Nolasco in the third inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. It was the first homer in the series by either team. Robinson added a pinch-hit, solo blast in the seventh against J.P. Howell for the game’s final run.
Lance Lynn rebounded from a rough outing in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Pirates by allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks over 5¹/₃ innings.
“I felt like I was throwing the ball pretty well,” Lynn said. “To get three runs [early] gives you a little bit of breathing room where you don’t have to try to make a perfect pitch every time maybe.”
Lynn was tested in the fourth, when Yasiel Puig and A.J. Ellis each delivered an RBI single to slice the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2. But Skip Schumaker, who entered as a pinch-hitter for Nolasco, hit into an inning-ending double play. Adrian Gonzalez’s double to right — accompanied by a celebration when he reached second base — started the rally. Lynn threw under Puig’s chin — perhaps sending a message after the Dodgers outfielder showboated the previous night. But Puig got the final laugh with the RBI single.
Nolasco lasted just four innings and allowed three earned run on three hits and one walk. It was the right-hander’s first start of this postseason, after he was bumped for Kershaw on short rest in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Braves.