ST. LOUIS _ There was a fleeting moment sometime around when Patrick Wisdom's grand slam landed in Big Mac Land or maybe as he vigorously fist-pumped to the crowd during a curtain call that the Cardinals had their spice back, their verve.
It had a shorter shelf life than salsa.
The lead Wisdom's grand slam gained the Cardinals was gone by the next inning and vaporized before Yasiel Puig hit his third home run of the game. Puig's first career three-homer game and seven RBIs led a 16-hit blitz by the Los Angeles Dodgers that sent them to a 17-4 demolition Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Cody Bellinger hit the Dodgers' fifth home run of the game in the ninth inning and doubled his RBI total to six RBIs to complete the drubbing.
The win pushed the Dodgers into the lead for the National League's second wild card.
It dropped the Cardinals a game back in the playoff race.
For the first time in more than a week, the Cardinals do not have a hold of a playoff berth. And they only control their own destiny for as long as Sunday's game with Adam Wainwright starting and ESPN watching. Win there, and they move back into a tie for the NL's second wild card. Lose, and they'll need help from somewhere else to crawl back into October.
The Dodgers opened up a 2-0 lead on starter John Gant in the first inning on a home run by Manny Machado. They widened that lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning.
Then, as the guest PA announcer started chomping on chips and Matt Carpenter salsa between calling hitters' names, the Cardinals walked their way to a rally. Dodgers starter Rich Hill walked the bases loaded with one out to bring the inning to rookie Wisdom. The Cardinals' leader in homers at Class AAA a year ago and starter at first base Saturday, Wisdom turned on a 0-2 pitch from Hill and skyrocketed the ball into the third deck beyond left field.
The grand slam _ Wisdom's first in the majors _ gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead and so much of the energy they've been lacking in this series.
The team was silenced by Walker Buehler on Friday night, and their late rallies against Clayton Kershaw & Co. on Thursday came up shy because of their late-game erosion. This lead didn't have long to breath. In the fifth inning, Gant walked three batters to match Hill's feat and then force the game into the bullpen.
The Cardinals went first to Tyler Webb. Bellinger tagged him with a two-run single. The Cardinals went next to Mike Mayers. Puig greeted him with a three-run homer _ his second homer in as many innings and the second of his the game. That muscled the Dodgers to a five-run fifth inning that regained the lead and turned the game into a rout.
Gant allowed six runs on six hits and four walks in his 41/3 innings.
The Dodgers got 16 hits and walked 10 batters. Another LA player was ushered onto base with an error.
