Kemp homered to center field on a 2-2 pitch from Franklin (0-2), who has four blown saves in five chances. He did the same thing against Franklin in the series opener, but the Dodgers lost 9-5.
"He left one a little bit over the middle of the plate and I just kept my hands still," Kemp said. "He's got a really good sinker and a really good curveball and a cutter, so he moves the ball a lot. You've got to try to get a pitch in the middle and use your hands, and that's what I did."
He went 3 for 4 for his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, and his .474 average leads the majors.
Andre Ethier led off the ninth with a double to right field off Trever Miller, extending his major league-leading hitting streak to 14 games.
Jonathan Broxton (1-0) got the win despite giving up a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth by David Freese.
"It's been one of these tough breaks now where things haven't gone our way, but we're not going to hang our heads," Ethier said. "We found a way to bounce back."
Dodgers 2, Cardinals 1
St. Louis 000 000 001–1 4 1
Los Angeles 000 000 002–2 7 1
St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Theriot ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .303
Rasmus cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .364
Pujols 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .239
Holliday lf 3 1 3 0 1 0 .441
Berkman rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .308
Freese 3b 4 0 1 1 0 3 .360
Y.Molina c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .244
Descalso 2b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .250
Carpenter p 1 0 0 0 1 1 .000
a-Jay ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .222
Boggs p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
