Over the past few days, the pitching of the St. Louis Cardinals threw cumulatively over 35 scoreless innings, and threw three straight shutouts. On Sunday, they looked to keep both streaks going as they were one game away from sweeping the rival Milwaukee Brewers.
But on Sunday, both streaks fell as the Brewers got the best of St. Louis in a 5-4 loss at Miller Park.
The starting pitchers for the afternoon match-up were John Lackey (9-7, 2.85 ERA) for the Cardinals, and Jimmy Nelson (9-9, 3.57) for the Brewers.
For St. Louis, the shutout streak continued until the bottom of the third inning. Jean Segura led off with a single, but soon after was caught stealing by Yadier Molina. Elian Herrera then hit a solo home run to make it 1-0 Brewers, snapping the Cardinals’ scoreless inning streak at 38 1/2 innings.
But Milwaukee scored more than the one run in the inning. After a Nelson strikeout, Shane Peterson walked. Khris Davis stepped up to the plate next, and hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0 Brewers.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals were not able to get onto the board until the top of the sixth inning, as Nelson had pitched consistently strong all game long. After Kolten Wong reached on an infield single, Jhonny Peralta came up to bat. While Peralta flied out, Wong was able to steal second during the at-bat. Jason Heyward stepped up next, and singled home Wong to make it 3-1 Brewers.
St. Louis not only tied the game in the top of the seventh, but they took the lead, and did so all in one swing of the bat. Brandon Moss led off with an infield single, and that was followed with a single by Stephen Piscotty. Two outs later, one of which being a sacrifice by Tony Cruz, Matt Carpenter stepped up, looking to keep his hot streak in the lead-off spot going.
And he did just that, hitting his 17th home run, this time a three-run shot, to make it 4-3 Cardinals.
Since Carpenter returned to the lead-off spot in the lineup, his stats are: .375/.432/1.025, and also has hit seven home runs, five doubles, and 12 RBI’s.
In the bottom of the seventh, Lackey, who did not throw many pitches during the game, exited, as Randy Choate came in his place. His final line of the afternoon: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks, while throwing only 66 pitches.
Milwaukee, however, regained the lead during the bottom of the eighth inning. It started out with Kevin Siegrist on the mound. Jason Rogers led off with a single and Peterson sacrificed to third base. Davis came up to bat later in the inning, and hit his second home run of the game, this time with Jonathan Broxton on the mound, to give the Brewers a 5-4 lead.
And after Francisco Rodriguez shut down the Cardinals in the top of the ninth, the Brewers officially prevented the sweep. With the 5-4 win, St. Louis drops to 71-40, with Broxton getting the loss. Rodriguez got his 26th save of the season on Sunday afternoon as well.
St. Louis heads back home on Monday for an off-day, and on Tuesday, they begin a critical three game divisional series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
