Cardinals vs. Dodgers: Game 2 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 MLB Playoffs

Mere months after being the subject of possible trade discussions, Matt Kemp delivered the Los Angeles Dodgers' most important hit of the season in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

The Dodgers bullpen threw away a 2-0 lead on Saturday night, but Kemp saved the day with a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Dodger Stadium.

In Game 1 on Friday, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw had a seventh inning to forget. The Cardinals scored eight times in the inning to take a 10-6 lead, eventually winning 10-9 and stealing home-field advantage in the best-of-five series.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly attempted to play down the emotional impact of the loss in his postgame press conference, per MLB.com:

"

I'm really proud of our guys. We got four down there, it would have been easy to go away, our guys kept battling. In a sense, you know, we let everyone know we're not going away, we're going to keep playing. We didn't get this far by losing a game in there and saying, Oh, we're going to take our ball and go home. We're going to show up tomorrow and be ready to play.

"

Going down 2-0 in the series wouldn't have doomed Los Angeles to elimination, but the Dodgers would've faced a nearly impossible task of winning the next three games in a row, including two at Busch Stadium.

In short, L.A. needed something special, and that's exactly what it got from starting pitcher Zack Greinke. The 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner went seven innings, striking out seven and surrendering just two walks and two hits.

A night after possibly riding his starting pitcher a little bit too long, Mattingly will likely come under fire for pulling his starter too early.

Mattingly removed him prior to the eighth inning after Cardinals manager Mike Matheny inserted Oscar Taveras as a pinch hitter. Greinke's pitch count hit 103, which MLB.com's Richard Justice pointed out was far from uncharted territory for the right-hander:

J.P. Howell came on to pitch and immediately gave up a single to Taveras. Matt Carpenter, who put the Cardinals ahead 7-6 in Game 1 with a three-run double, followed up with a two-run blast to right field.

Former pitcher Brian Bannister made it very clear what side of the fence he's on:

Joe Sheehan thought it was less about Mattingly's decision and more about Carpenter's heroics:

Of course, much of that drama will be pushed to the side after Kemp's home run. The game-winning blast could be the kind of transformative moment that turns the series on its head.

The homer was certainly big for Howell, whose visible relief was documented by Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:

With the series shifting to St. Louis, it's anybody's guess how things will unfold. 

The Dodgers' first two runs came in the bottom of the third inning, and A.J. Ellis provided the spark, leading off the inning with a double to deep right center.

That was his fifth hit of the postseason; he needed 33 more trips to the plate to reach that total in the regular season, per Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register:

Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com provided an entertaining anecdote involving Greinke and Ellis:

Greinke moved Ellis over to third base with a single to right field. Dee Gordon came to bat next and grounded to Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong. Wong tagged Greinke and threw to first for what was initially ruled a double play. Ellis scored, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

This wasn't the end of the drama, however. After reviewing the play, the umpires reversed the initial call, discovering that Wong had the ball in his right hand when he tagged Greinke with his left. ESPN's Buster Olney explained why the umpires put Greinke at second rather than first:

After a Yasiel Puig strikeout, Adrian Gonzalez delivered a single to right center that scored Greinke and gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Justice marveled at how much Greinke was doing to help Los Angeles:

The Dodgers nearly added another run in the bottom of the sixth, but Cardinals starter Lance Lynn worked himself out of a jam. L.A. had runners on first and second after a single by Matt Kemp and walk to Hanley Ramirez. A fielder's choice to Juan Uribe moved the runners to second and third with two outs.

Sheehan questioned whether Matheny was right to stick with Lynn, whose pitch count was climbing into the triple digits:

After intentionally walking Ellis, Lynn got Greinke to ground out to third to end the inning and remove the threat.

The Dodgers will still need to win at least one game in St. Louis to take the series, but they'll like their chances a lot more after Saturday night. According to MLB.com, the probable starters for Monday's Game 3 are Hyun-Jin Ryu for L.A. and John Lackey for the Cardinals.

If the first two games are any indication, expect another close one between these two evenly matched clubs.