As the Cardinals and Brewers kicked off the final regular season series of the season, I couldn’t help but think back to 2011 when the Cardinals ruined the season for a highly-competitive Milwaukee team that season and went on to win the World Series. How times have changed. Friday night, it was the Brewers who were the 100 win team while the Cardinals are just waiting for vacation time after Sunday. Michael McGreevy kept the Cardinals in the game, but would the offense break through against Brewers starter Robert Gasser? Even bigger question is what would the Cardinals bullpen do.
The Brew Crew were the first to strike Friday night as they jumped on McGreevy in the bottom of the 1st inning when Mitchell led off with a single and then scored when the next batter Turang doubled into the left-centerfield gap making it 1-0 Milwaukee. I feared that the wheels might come off of Michael’s start, but he was able to reel in the Brewers and didn’t allow them another run until the 5th. More on that later.
The Cardinals briefly pulled even in the top of the 4th inning when Ivan Herrera ripped a 93 mph Gasser sinker over the left-centerfield wall for a total distance of 393 feet tying the game at 1-1.
The Brewers would regain the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning after McGreevy walked Christian Yelich to start the inning. He would advance to third when Ortiz singled to right and then scored when Frelick grounded into a fielder’s choice. 2-1 Brewers.
How many times has the 5th inning come back to bite Cardinals starters this season? You can add Friday night’s game to that list. It wasn’t an implosion (the bullpen would provide that later), but McGreevy would not make it out of the bottom of the 5th when Turang led off with a double. William Contreras then flied out to right moving Turang over to third. He scored when Jake Bauers singled to center upping the Milwaukee advantage to 3-1. It would continue to get messy after Yelich reached on an infield hit. Two batters later, Lara walked to load the bases and that would end McGreevy’s night as Oli Marmol brought in Brycen Mautz. Jackson Chourio pinch-hit for Frelick and Mautz promptly walked him gifting the Brewers another run making it 4-1. It could have been much worse as Brycen got behind in the count against Hamilton 3-1, but came back to strike him out and end the inning with minimal damage.
After Brycen Mautz shut down the Brewers in the bottom of the 6th in order, the Cardinals would come storming back in the top of the 7th inning when Jordan Walker led off with a monster 411 foot home run over the centerfield wall reducing the Brewers lead to just 4-2.
After Leo Bernal singled to center following Walker’s home run, they would eliminate the Milwaukee lead completely when Alec Burleson would be brought off of the bench to pinch-hit for Jose Fermin. He slammed a 414 foot Burly bomb high off the right field foul pole tying the game at 4-4.
The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen would need to keep the team in the game and Luis Gastelum did his job in the bottom of the 7th inning with only one walk to Ortiz as he didn’t allow any threat of a rally. The bottom of the 8th inning would be a different story. Gastelum gave up a leadoff hit to Chourio to start and he would be taken out of the game for Justin Bruihl. Bruihl’s first act would be to nail Hamilton with a pitch. Mitchell would reach first when his sacrifice bunt would be muffed by Justin loading the bases for Milwaukee. Turang then crushed the Cardinals with a 2-RBI single to left making it 6-4 Milwaukee. The worst was yet to come. Cade Winquest was brought into the game to try and keep the Brewers within 2 and he was not successful and that’s a massive understatement. Mitchell would be caught leaning off second base, but in the rundown Winquest heaved the ball over third base allowing both runners to advance to second and third. William Contreras followed that misplay with a single to left scoring another making it 7-4 Brewers. Bauers then flied out to left for a sacrifice fly giving Milwaukee another run upping the lead to 8-4 Brewers. Winquest would eventually get out of the inning, but the damage had been done.
Barring a miracle, you could sense the game was all but over with Trevor Megill coming in to close out the game for the Brewers. Leo Bernal led off the Cardinals 9th with a solid single up the middle. MLB RBI leader Alec Burleson was next, but all he could manage was a fly-out to right for the first out. Thomas Saggese flew out to center for the second out. Masyn Winn was the Cardinals final hope in what was really a hopeless game. He whiffed on 3 pitches and that was the game.
Final score – Brewers 8, Cardinals 4
The St. Louis Cardinals will invade American Family Field again Saturday night for game 2 and hope for better results against the Milwaukee Brewers. Quinn Mathews will put on the pearls for his final start of the season Saturday night for St. Louis while it will be former Cardinals starter Dustin May taking the mound for the Brewers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10pm central time Saturday night and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
