Zack Greinke, Dodgers fall behind early in 4-2 loss to St. Louis

KEY MOMENT: The Dodgers were already down, 4-0, after Zack Greinke faced four batters in the bottom of the first inning. He walked Matt Carpenter, then gave up an infield hit to Kolten Wong. Dee Gordon made a throwing error on Wong’s hit, which allowed the runners to advance to second and third base. Carpenter and Wong both scored on a single to left field by Matt Holliday that moved the Cardinals in front, 2-0. The next batter, Matt Adams, doubled the lead with a two-run home run to right field. “Too many mistakes in one inning,” Greinke said.

ON THE MOUND: Greinke threw 110 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. He was charged with six hits and walked a season-high five batters. This marked the first time in almost four years that Greinke lost consecutive regular-season starts. The last time he dropped successive regular starts was in 2010, when pitching for the Kansas City Royals and dropped games to the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians on Sept. 20 and 25, respectively.

AT THE PLATE: Hanley Ramirez drove in the Dodgers’ first run in the third inning on an infield single. The run was the only one the Dodgers scored against Cardinals starter Joe Kelly, who limited them to four hits and a walk over seven innings. Carl Crawford drove in the Dodgers’ other run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.

MEDICAL REPORT: Josh Beckett, who is on the disabled list because of a hip injury, threw a bullpen session and appears as if he will be able to start Tuesday in Pittsburgh. “He seems to be on track,” said Manager Don Mattingly. “We feel like he’s going to make it.”

OUTFIELD SHUFFLE: There were two changes in the outfield from the previous day, as Crawford started in left field in place of Matt Kemp and Scott Van Slyke started instead of Andre Ethier in center.

UP NEXT: Clayton Kershaw (11-2, 1.73 earned-run average) will face the Cardinals and Carlos Martinez (2-4, 4.43) at Busch Stadium on Sunday at 5 p.m. PDT. On the air: TV: ESPN. Radio: 570, 710, 1020.

— Dylan Hernandez