With the Pittsburgh Pirates losing to the Chicago Cubs 9-6 early Thursday evening, the St. Louis Cardinals not only had the perfect chance to cut the magic number to 12, but increase their National League Central division lead to five games.
And they took full advantage of the opportunity.
St. Louis dominated Milwaukee all game long at Miller Park, capping off the sweep with a 6-3 victory.
The starting pitchers for Thursday night’s game were John Lackey (11-9, 2.89 ERA) and Jimmy Nelson (11-12, 3.95). Matt Carpenter led off the game with a single, and scored during the next at-bat when Tommy Pham hit an RBI triple that made it 1-0 Cardinals.
Pham later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jhonny Peralta to make it 2-0 Cardinals right at the start of the game.
In the top of the third inning, Pham scored Carpenter once again when he hit a double that scored the Cardinals’ third baseman. But unfortunately, it was during that same play that led to the removal of Nelson from the game, as he took a line drive to the back of the head.
Jason Heyward singled to right field, scoring Pham to make it 4-0 Cardinals. A Peralta double mixed with a throwing error on behalf of the Brewers led to St. Louis increasing their lead to 5-0.
Meanwhile, on the mound, Lackey was lights out, shutting out the Brewers throughout the evening, and in the bottom of the fifth inning, he struck out three straight batters. When his night was done, the veteran right-hander’s final line was: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 Ks. He had thrown only 88 pitches during the game, but the Cardinals’ bullpen took care of the rest of the evening.
The final run scored by St. Louis came in the top of the sixth when Carpenter hit a solo home run as it became 6-0.
Mitch Harris entered to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, where Jean Segura hit a three-run home run to cut the lead to 6-3. But that was all Milwaukee would score, as St. Louis defeated their National League Central rivals 6-3, cutting the postseason magic number to two.
Lackey improved to 12-9 with the win, and the Cardinals improved their MLB-best record to 92-54.
On Friday, the Cardinals begin a series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs, and Lance Lynn will get the first start.
(Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)
