For the first time in what feels like an entire series, the Brewers took an early lead of the game and made it big. Backed by Logan Henderson’s perfect start since May 22, Jake Bauers had a three-run home run in the top of the third inning to carry the Crew to an 8-4 win.
In a rare five-game series, the Brewers went to Busch Stadium and advertised a little bit of everything. From a comeback to a strong streak to the opposite of both, but for the first time since July 2008, the Brewers won four games in St. Louis. Louis, they pushed themselves 18 games over .500.
Advertisement
Henderson came out firing in the bottom of the first inning as he struck out two of the top four batters in the Cardinals lineup in Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson.
In the top of the second inning, Bauers started the offense with a single to center. After a wild ball sent Bauers to second, Andrew Vaughn then singled out the fielder. During the game, Bauers pulled off an acrobatic move to protect himself from being tagged as the lead runner.
Thanks to an “Okie-Doke” move (the name for an acrobatic game by Bauers in the post-game interview), Sal Frelick scored in the first run of the game to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Then, almost out of the blue, Cooper Pratt added another run with a base hit up the middle to extend their lead to 2-0. Pratt continues to play hot at the plate as he now has nine hits over his last 22 at-bats with four RBIs and six walks.
Advertisement
After Henderson pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the second, Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio pitched another big inning for the Brewers. Brice Turang drove in his first RBI of the game on a base hit to extend the Brewers lead to 3-0. A few batters later, Andrew Pallante was skipped by a curveball to Bauers, and he ripped it into right field for a three-run home run to extend the Brewers’ lead to 6-0.
Henderson continued to dominate in his first outing since returning from the injured list, retiring 10 batters in a row before giving up a double to Burleson to give the Cardinals life. After walking Walker, Lars Nootbaar hit a home run to put the Cardinals on the board for the first time of the evening to make it 6-1.
After Henderson’s first blip on the radar in the bottom of the fourth inning, he struck out JJ Wetherholt to lead off the bottom of the sixth, snapping his recent streak of retiring four batters in a row. He then struck out Iván Herrera before walking Burleson, marking the end of his return to the Brewers’ rotation.
Advertisement
Henderson’s replacement was Chad Patrick, who promptly hit a three-run home run off Walker, cutting the Brewers’ lead to 6-4. That was the lone factor of the night for Patrick as he settled down, retiring the next five batters he faced.
In an attempt to extend their lead, Turang took the lead in the top of the seventh inning to center to make it 7-4.
Aaron Ashby entered in relief in the bottom of the eighth inning, looking to end his streak of pressure outings. That didn’t happen tonight, as he allowed a base hit to Wetherhold and walked Herrera with no outs. Facing a tie game all the way at the plate put fans and players on edge, but Ashby came through as he forced Burleson, struck out Walker, and got Nootbaar to strike out.
Advertisement
The Venezuelan team helped add insurance in the ninth as Chourio doubled to open the inning and William Contreras later hit a flyout to push the Brewers ahead to 8-4.
The Brewers finished their season in St. Louis this season going 7-1, and with the season series tied. They will end their long road trip as the Brewers travel to Pittsburgh for the first time this season for the start of a three game series. Tomorrow night will be the last series before the All-Star Break as the Brewers will face the Pirates, which will start at 5:40 pm.
