ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers might have staged another stirring comeback Thursday night but Tyler Anderson made it unnecessary.

Anderson pitched six scoreless innings as the Dodgers shut out the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, taking two out of three in the series at Busch Stadium.

The Dodgers have won nine of their past 10 games and 13 of their past 15, leaving the rest of the National League West fading in the distance as the All-Star break nears.

“Tonight against a tough lineup I thought Tyler was really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Anderson, who began the season in the Dodgers’ bullpen but reaches the All-Star break 10-1 with a 2.96 ERA. “He’s had a tremendous first half. I’m really proud of him, the way he finished.”

Thursday was the first time in six games the Dodgers scored first and the first time since Saturday that they hadn’t fallen behind by at least five runs. They won five of those six games including two of the three they trailed by at least five runs.

Their starting pitchers in those previous three games – Julio Urias, Mitch White and Tony Gonsolin – combined to allow 16 runs in 12 innings, putting the Dodgers in the trail position each time.

Anderson put an end to that skid. He gave up just three hits and walked two. No Cardinal got past second base against him and only two even got that far.

“I thought he did a really good job,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He was mixing really well with his pitches and also the timing in his delivery. He just executed pitches. … Just really kept them off balance.”

The Dodgers had four players named to the National League All-Star team. Smith and Freddie Freeman weren’t among them. If the Dodgers had a few more players not make the All-Star team, they might be unstoppable.

Freeman and Smith each went 2 for 3 on Thursday. For Freeman, it was his fourth consecutive multi-hit game since not being named to the NL team on Sunday. The major-league leader with 111 hits, Freeman has gone 13 for his past 16, reaching base in 16 of his past 19 plate appearances.

“You don’t talk about it. You just try to ride it as long as you can until it suddenly ends – because this is baseball and it is going to end, unfortunately,” Freeman said.

“It just feels like I’m recognizing strikes and I’m hitting the strikes. I’m not fouling many pitches off. When I swing I hit it and I’m not fouling any good pitches off. You’re just trying to get good pitches to hit and I’ve been hitting them lately.”

He doubled in the fourth inning (his 30th of the season in just the 88th game) and scored the first run of the game on an RBI single by Justin Turner. That was the ninth consecutive time Freeman had reached base.

“The ball looks like a melon up there, he’s just seeing it so well,” Roberts said. “Right-handed, left-handed. He’s taken some tough pitches. It seems like everything he swings at is center-cut. Just goes to show how he’s swinging the bat, seeing the baseball, using the whole field.

“Right now he’s as good a player omitted from the All-Star team as I could imagine.”

Both Freeman and Smith might be motivated by being overlooked for the All-Star Game, Roberts offered.

“I do,” he said. “I don’t think either play will admit it. But anything a player can use to motivate them to get through the grind of a season I think is a benefit. Certainly, those guys use it as a little bit of fuel and we’re the beneficiaries.”

Roberts was right – neither player would admit it if that’s the case.

“Everyone has his own opinion – that’s what I’ve found out over the last three, four months,” Freeman said with a laugh. “No, even going into that (current hot streak) I was hitting the ball. I wasn’t striking out. I knew I was moving the ball forward and I was feeling better and better.

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“It just so happened to click on that same day.”

Smith drove in Trea Turner with a two-out double in the sixth inning. Since his All-Star snub on Sunday, Smith is 6 for 16 with two doubles, a home run and six RBIs.

“No. I don’t think it was that,” Smith said of the snub-as-fuel theory. “I try to go out there every day with the same attitude, same mindset. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

Gavin Lux has been hot even longer than Freeman and Smith. He hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning, chasing Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson. Over his past 17 games, Lux is batting .358 (19 for 53) with six extra-base hits (two doubles, two triples and two home runs).

Yency Almonte, Evan Phillips and Craig Kimbrel closed out the five-hit shutout with one scoreless inning each. Phillips has not been charged with an earned run since May 26.

Gavin Lux 2-run ! pic.twitter.com/7XqsPUdPuK

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) July 15, 2022

Mookie with a strike. pic.twitter.com/eamqeDjPem

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) July 15, 2022