Cardinals Drop Finale as Brewers Take Four of Five
Cardinals Drop Finale as Brewers Take Four of Five
The Cardinal Chronicle
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals needed Thursday night to be a salvage point.
Instead, it became one more reminder of how much separation still exists between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.
Milwaukee beat St. Louis 8-4 at Busch Stadium in the fifth and final game of the extended five-game series, jumping on Andre Pallante early, holding off one serious Cardinals push, and finishing the series with four wins in five games.
For the Cardinals, the frustration was not simply losing another game to Milwaukee. It was how quickly the game got away.
Pallante opened the night with a clean first inning, but the second and third innings changed everything. Milwaukee scored twice in the second, then broke the game open with four more runs in the third. By the time the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the third, they were already staring at a 6-0 deficit.
That is no way to beat the best team in the division.
The Brewers opened the scoring in the second when Sal Frelick singled home Jake Bauers. Cooper Pratt followed with another run-scoring single, bringing home Andrew Vaughn and giving Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.
The third inning was worse.
Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio reached with singles, and Brice Turang drove in Mitchell with a single to right. After Turang stole second, Jake Bauers delivered the swing that defined the night, launching a three-run homer to right field. Just like that, Milwaukee led 6-0.
Pallante finished five innings, allowing six runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts. It was not the start the Cardinals needed, especially against a Brewers club that has punished St. Louis repeatedly this season.
The Cardinals had a chance to answer in the first inning when JJ Wetherholt opened the bottom half with a double and reached third with only one out. But Iván Herrera grounded out, Alec Burleson struck out, and Jordan Walker went down looking. That missed chance felt even bigger once Milwaukee started piling up runs.
St. Louis finally got on the board in the fourth. Burleson doubled to right, moved into scoring position with one out, and Lars Nootbaar delivered a sharp single to center to bring him home. It cut the deficit to 6-1, but the Cardinals still had a steep climb.
The one real push came in the sixth.
Wetherholt was hit by a pitch, Burleson walked, and Milwaukee turned to Chad Patrick with Jordan Walker coming to the plate. Walker did exactly what the Cardinals needed, hammering a three-run home run to left field. It was his 22nd homer of the season and pulled St. Louis within 6-4.
For a moment, Busch Stadium had life again.
But Milwaukee answered immediately.
Brice Turang led off the seventh with a solo home run off Luis Gastelum, stretching the lead back to 7-4 and taking some of the air out of the Cardinals’ comeback attempt. It was Turang’s second RBI hit of the night and his 13th homer of the season.
Gordon Graceffo gave the Cardinals two strong innings after that, striking out four and allowing no hits. His work kept the game from completely getting away and gave St. Louis a chance to make one more push.
The Cardinals had that chance in the eighth.
Wetherholt singled, Herrera walked, and Burleson reached on a force play that put runners at the corners with one out. With Walker at the plate representing the tying run, Milwaukee needed a big out and got it. Walker struck out, and Nootbaar popped out to second to end the threat.
That was the last real chance.
Milwaukee added one more run in the ninth when Jackson Chourio doubled and later scored on William Contreras’ sacrifice fly. Abner Uribe handled the bottom of the ninth for the Brewers, working around a José Fermín walk to close it out.
The Brewers finished with 11 hits. The Cardinals had five.
That tells most of the story.
St. Louis got a strong night from Wetherholt, who doubled, singled, was hit by a pitch and scored. Burleson doubled, walked and scored twice. Walker supplied the big swing with his three-run homer. Nootbaar drove in a run.
But once again, the Cardinals did not have enough.
Milwaukee controlled the early innings, forced the Cardinals to chase the game, and had an answer when St. Louis finally made it interesting. That has been the pattern too often in this matchup. The Brewers create pressure. The Cardinals respond in pieces. Milwaukee finds another gear.
After Wednesday’s 5-1 win behind Michael McGreevy, the Cardinals had a chance to at least leave the series with a better taste. Instead, the finale tilted back toward Milwaukee, and the Brewers left Busch Stadium having made another division statement.
The Cardinals are still above .500. They are still in the broader postseason conversation. But this series was a hard look at the standard inside the division.
Milwaukee came in as the better club.
Over five games, they looked like it.
The bottom line, the Cardinals had one big swing from Jordan Walker and a good night from JJ Wetherholt, but the game was lost early.
Milwaukee jumped Andre Pallante for six runs, Jake Bauers supplied the three-run homer, Brice Turang added another long ball, and the Brewers never let the Cardinals fully climb back into it.
The five-game series is over.
Milwaukee took four.
The Cardinals took another hard hit on the chin from the NL Central's division leaders.
Brewers 8, Cardinals 4.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.
Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com
Photo Credit: Jordan Walkerl, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB