McGreevy Leads Cardinals Past Brewers on His Birthday
McGreevy Leads Cardinals Past Brewers on His Birthday
The Cardinal Chronicle
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals badly needed a different kind of night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
They got one Wednesday at Busch Stadium.
After being knocked around, outplayed, and swept in Tuesday’s doubleheader, the Cardinals responded with a clean, much-needed 5-1 win over the first-place Brewers behind a strong birthday start from Michael McGreevy, two big swings from Alec Burleson and José Fermín, and a bullpen that finished the night without letting Milwaukee back into the game.
For one night, at least, the Cardinals stopped the bleeding.
That mattered.
St. Louis entered the game having lost seven straight to Milwaukee this season and was coming off one of the roughest stretches of the year. The Brewers had taken the first three games of the series, including both ends of Tuesday’s doubleheader, and the gap between the two clubs looked painfully obvious.
Wednesday did not erase all of that.
But it did give the Cardinals a win they desperately needed.
McGreevy set the tone.
Making the start on his 26th birthday, the right-hander worked 6.1 innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out six and walking one. He was not perfect in the first inning, but he made the pitch he needed when the game could have turned early.
Milwaukee loaded the bases in the opening frame, putting McGreevy under immediate pressure. Instead of letting the inning get away from him, he escaped without allowing a run. That may have been the most important sequence of the night.
From there, McGreevy settled in and gave the Cardinals exactly what they needed — length, strikes, and control of the game.
The Cardinals rewarded him quickly in the bottom of the first.
Masyn Winn opened the inning with a double to right field. After Iván Herrera moved him over, Jordan Walker drove a sharp double to right, scoring Winn and giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead. Alec Burleson followed with another double to right, bringing home Walker and pushing the lead to 2-0.
That early response mattered. After the way the Brewers had handled the Cardinals in recent meetings, St. Louis needed to play from ahead. The first inning gave them that chance.
José Fermín added to it in the fourth, jumping on a pitch from Kyle Harrison and driving it out to left-center for his fourth home run of the season. Fermín’s solo shot gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead and gave McGreevy a little more room to work.
The decisive blow came in the sixth.
Jordan Walker singled, stole second base, and Burleson made the Brewers pay. The left-handed bat drove a two-run home run to right field, his 15th of the season, stretching the lead to 5-0 and giving the Cardinals the kind of separation they had failed to find in the first three games of the series.
Burleson finished with two hits and three RBIs, driving in runs with both his first-inning double and sixth-inning homer. On a night when the Cardinals needed a steady bat in the middle of the order, Burleson delivered.
Walker also had a strong night, going 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base. His first-inning double helped establish the tone, and his baserunning in the sixth helped set up Burleson’s home run.
McGreevy carried the shutout into the seventh before Milwaukee finally broke through. Garrett Mitchell doubled, Luis Lara singled, and Cooper Pratt lifted a sacrifice fly after Luis Gastelum entered from the bullpen. That run was charged to McGreevy, but the damage stopped there.
Gastelum’s appearance was notable on its own.
After being selected from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, the 24-year-old right-hander made his major league debut in a pressure spot against the Brewers. He allowed one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly, gave up a double to Joey Ortiz, then got Andrew Vaughn to ground out and keep the Cardinals comfortably in front.
It was not a quiet debut, but it was a useful one.
JoJo Romero handled the eighth, working around a walk and striking out two to close down Milwaukee’s final threat. The Cardinals did not need to use Riley O’Brien, and after the way the bullpen had been taxed, that mattered too.
This was not a dramatic comeback. It was not a walk-off. It was not one of those wild, late-inning Cardinals specials that leaves everyone wondering how they survived.
It was better than that.
It was a clean win.
The starter gave them length. The offense struck early. The middle of the order produced. The bullpen held the lead. The defense played errorless baseball. Against a Brewers club that had been controlling the series, that was exactly the kind of night St. Louis needed.
The Cardinals still have work to do. One win does not fix the division gap, the rough doubleheader, or the season-series damage already done by Milwaukee. But it does stop the slide for a night, and sometimes that is where a club has to start.
The Brewers came in rolling.
The Cardinals finally pushed back and stop Milwaukee's run.
The Cardinals entered the night having lost seven straight games to the Brewers this season. Wednesday’s win did not erase the damage, but it did stop the streak and gave St. Louis a much-needed response against the division leader.
The bottom line, the Cardinals needed a win, and they needed one that did not require late-inning miracles.
Michael McGreevy gave them the start. Alec Burleson gave them the thunder. Jordan Walker helped set the table. José Fermín added insurance. Luis Gastelum made his debut, and JoJo Romero finished the job.
After a rough stretch against Milwaukee, the Cardinals finally got one back.
Cardinals 5, Brewers 1.
That’s a winner.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Michael McGreevy, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB