On Monday night, the St. Louis Cardinals fell 1-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers in which pitchers Jaime Garcia and Mike Fiers dueled throughout most of the game. The sole run in that game occurred in the first inning, and despite plenty of opportunities for the Cardinals to take the lead, they could not capitalize, dropping to 33-18.
But on Tuesday night, St. Louis bounced back, defeating Milwaukee 1-0 in another pitchers duel.
The match up on the mound was Lance Lynn (3-4, 3.42) for the Cardinals and Tyler Cravy ( in his Major League debut) for the Brewers.
In the top of the first, Lynn started off striking out Carlos Gomez, getting Gerardo Parra to ground out, as well as Ryan Braun to start off with a 1-2-3 inning. Cravy, meanwhile, did the same thing, as Kolten Wong grounded out, Matt Carpenter struck out, and Matt Holliday popped out.
Lynn pitched another 1-2-3 inning during the top of the second. And it was in the second inning that the Cardinals scored the only run of the game. After a strikeout by Jhonny Peralta, Randal Grichuk doubled sharply to left field, bringing up Yadier Molina, who lined out to left field. Mark Reynolds then stepped up, and singled to Gomez in center field, scoring Grichuk as the Cardinals got the 1-0 lead.
The top of the third inning began with Jean Segura singling to left field. Luis Sardinas followed with a line out right to the same place. Segura advanced to second after a sacrifice by Cravy, but Lynn once again got Gomez to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Cravy, meanwhile, pitched another 1-2-3 inning, despite Lynn getting a single in the bottom half of the third, and as the teams headed to the fourth, St. Louis held a 1-0 lead over Milwaukee.
In what felt like a repeat of Monday night, both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings, shutting down the opposing lineups.
And while the game kept going, and the Cardinals maintained their 1-0 lead, it was what happened in the bottom of the seventh inning that left thousands upset.
With Cravy still on the mound, and following a walk to Carpenter, Holliday stepped up to the plate. He stepped up 0-2 on the day, and still looking to extend his National League record on-base streak to 46 games. But with two strikes, a pitch inside was called strike three by home plate umpire Joe West. After arguing with West, Holliday was ejected, officially ending his chance at extending his streak.
Manager Mike Matheny was ejected during the ensuing argument as well
Regardless, Holliday’s streak of 45 straight games on-base is a record that is ranked fifth longest in baseball history.
Lynn continued to pitch well into the eighth inning, getting out Sardinas on a ground-out to start off. But once pinch-hitter Jason Rogers hit a single with one out, acting manager David Bell made the call to the bullpen, bringing in Kevin Siegrist.
The final line of the evening for Lynn: 7 2/3 IP 5 H 0 ER 1 BB 5 K.
Siegrist pitched shutout baseball as well, and once the ninth inning rolled around, closer Trevor Rosenthal entered the game. And Rosenthal, with runners on the corner and one out during the top of the ninth, got Aramis Ramirez to ground into a game-ending double play to win it for the Cardinals.
With the win, Lynn improves to 4-4 and the Cardinals improve to 34-18, while the Brewers drop to 18-34. St. Louis remains 16 games over .500, as tomorrow, veteran John Lackey gets the start on the mound.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
