National League Game Summary - St. Louis at Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Kemp was calling for a fair ball not long after his manager called for a new arm.

The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder got his wish, hitting a dramatic home run on Saturday night that tied the best-of-five National League Division Series at one game apiece and made Don Mattingly's decision to pull Zack Greinke an afterthought.

Kemp's leadoff blast in the bottom of the eighth lifted the Dodgers to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 and came after the Cardinals tied the score on Matt Carpenter's two-run homer in the top of the inning.

Carpenter homered off J.P. Howell, who was brought in to relieve Greinke while the former AL Cy Young Award winner was warming up to start the eighth.

Greinke had given up just two hits -- the same number he had for the Dodgers -- but Mattingly opted to go for a lefty-lefty matchup when Oscar Taveras was announced as a pinch-hitter.

Taveras singled and Carpenter sent a first-pitch sinker into the right-center field seats.

His tying hit came a day after Carpenter played the hero in Game 1 with four RBI, including a three-run double in an eight-run seventh inning that chased Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and sent the St. Louis to a 10-9 win.

Kemp saved the day for the NL West champions, belting a slider from side-armer Pat Neshek (0-1) high into the air toward the left-field pole.

Like Boston's Carlton Fisk in the 1975 World Series, Kemp pleaded with the ball while it was in the air, calling for it to stay fair, then celebrated around first base when it complied.

Game 3 is Monday in St. Louis, with Cardinals right-hander John Lackey facing Dodgers lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu.

"I was looking for something to drive. He threw a slider over the plate and I put a good swing on it," said Kemp. "We can feed off this win going to St. Louis."

Greinke outdueled Lance Lynn after the slugfest that was Game 1 -- which was supposed to be a pitchers' duel between Kershaw and fellow 20-game winner Adam Wainwright.

The right-hander didn't give up a hit until the fifth. He struck out seven, walked two and threw 71 of his 103 pitches for strikes.

"To face Kershaw and Greinke and get a split, that's what we were after," said Carpenter.

Lynn lasted six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks for the NL Central champs. Three of his eight strikeouts came against Dodgers star Yasiel Puig, who fanned four times in all Saturday after striking out to end Game 1 with the tying run at third base.

"I had good stuff tonight," said Lynn. "We're in good position going home."

Brandon League (1-0) replaced Howell with a runner on base and got the Dodgers out of further trouble in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen struck out two in a perfect ninth to save the game.

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, who batted .191 in the regular season, led off the third inning with a double over right fielder Randal Grichuk's glove for his fifth hit of the series.

Ellis moved up on Greinke's hit to shallow right field and scored the game's first run on Dee Gordon's grounder to second baseman Kolten Wong.

The Dodgers successfully challenged a double play call after seeing that Wong didn't have the ball in his glove when he tagged Greinke on the basepath, and Greinke scored on Adrian Gonzalez's single to make it 2-0.