4-run first inning enough for Cards

Matt Adams highlighted a four-run first inning with a two-run home run, Joe Kelly (2-1) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings in his second start since returning from a three-month stint on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring and the St. Louis Cardinals sent Zack Greinke to losses in consecutive regular-season starts for the first time in nearly four years with a 4-2 victory Saturday against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.

Greinke (11-6) was coming off a loss July 9 to the Detroit Tigers and had not suffered back-to-back defeats in the regular season since Sept. 20 and 25, 2010, while pitching for the Kansas City Royals. He yielded four runs, six hits and five walks in 5⅔ innings.

Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday, who had a two-run single in the first, left with an undisclosed injury in the fifth. Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig left in the eighth after being hit on the left hand by a pitch from Kelly in the third.