Ryan Franklin took over in the ninth just as a heavy downpour blanketed Dodger Stadium. He struck out James Loney for the first out, and Matt Kemp fouled off a pair of 3-2 pitches before plate umpire Ed Montague motioned for the grounds crew.
After a 65-minute delay, the game resumed and Franklin walked Kemp. The right-hander fell behind Blake DeWitt 3-0 before striking him out, and Kemp stole second base on the strikeout. Franklin then walked pinch-hitter Delwyn Young, with Kemp taking third on a wild pitch.
Andruw Jones pinch-hit for reliever Cory Wade, and Franklin struck him out for his third save.
Lowe (2-5) allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings, but remained winless in six outings since beating Arizona on April 23. The right-hander, who pitched seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals in Boston's 2004 World Series clincher at St. Louis, is 1-5 with a 5.24 ERA in six starts against the Cards since then.
This was the first time that Joe Torre and Tony La Russa managed against each other in the same league during the regular season, although they were on opposite sides of the diamond during two interleague series. In June 2003, Torre's Yankees swept the Cardinals in New York - with Roger Clemens getting his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout in the opener of that three-game set. In June 2005, the Cardinals took two of three from the Yanks at St. Louis.
"It's always a special game when that's the case. For the longest time, he's been the measuring stick for a lot of managers," Torre said. "We both want to win very badly, but the fact that Tony is smarter than I am, he uses that ability to try to gain an edge with technology at times and being able to use all his players. I'm a little bit different. I pretty much let the players play, but he probably controls the game more than I do."
Torre and La Russa are No. 1 and No. 3 on the postseason wins list with 76 and 59, respectively. During the regular season, La Russa is first in wins among current managers (2,404) and Torre is third (2,092). Sandwiched between them in both categories is Atlanta's Bobby Cox.
"I've always enjoyed seeing him, so you miss not being around him - but only because we're friends," La Russa said. "But you don't really match wits with the other manager. It's your club against their club. Every manager just uses strategy based on the game and the players he has. So the managers don't really compete. The teams do. But I look at his success, and whatever he's doing, he's doing a lot of good things."
Lowe pitched around Albert Pujols with two outs in the third and walked him. Ludwick then drove a 1-1 pitch to center for his 13th homer and ninth this month.
The Dodgers got on the board in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney. It scored Chin-lung Hu, who tripled to right field just beyond the reach of Ludwick.
Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa was warned by Montague to stay within the confines of the coaching box in the fourth inning, and Torre came out to argue. Bowa and Montague clashed over the same issue on April 1 while Montague was umpiring third. Bowa was ejected for arguing and received a three-game suspension the following day from the commissioner's office.
Notes: The rain delay was the second this season at Dodger Stadium, which has had 17 games rained out since opening in 1962 - and none since April 17, 2000. On April 2, San Francisco completed its 2-1 victory after a 74-minute interruption.
