(Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)
It seems as though the St. Louis Cardinals have finally gotten back into a groove.
Heading into Wednesday night with a winning streak under their belts, the Cardinals hit three home runs to defeat the fourth-place Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 at Miller Park. It was their third straight win and to make matters better, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Chicago Cubs.
The magic number for the National League Central is now 14 games, with 17 games left to play.
As for Wednesday’s Cardinals/Brewers game, the starting pitchers were Jaime Garcia (8-5, 2.33 ERA) and Wily Peralta (5-8, 4.14).
St. Louis put up the first run of the game in the top of the second when Tommy Pham blasted a two-run home run 420 feet deep to center field. The Cardinals entered Wednesday night’s game 55-15 when scoring first in a game.
In the top of the third, Matt Carpenter hit his team leading 22nd home run of the season, as well as his 74th RBI, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead over Milwaukee. Pham hit his second home run of the game the following inning as it appeared the Cardinals were on their way to victory.
But that turned out not to be the case.
Elián Herrera singled to score Khris Davis and prevent the shutout in the bottom of the fourth. The following at-bat Martin Maldonado hit a three-run home run and just like that it became a 5-4 game in the ever-important series.
Garcia, however, began to buckle down and kept the Brewers in check.
En route to his ninth win the veteran left-hander finished the night with a final line of: 6.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 Ks.
In the end it was the Cardinals pitching, capped off by another stellar ninth inning by closer Trevor Rosenthal that sealed the win for St. Louis. The win puts the Cardinals at 91-54, which is still the best record in Major League Baseball.
On Thursday in the series finale, John Lackey will get the start.
