(Photo courtesy: Jeff Curry – Getty Images)
This home-stand was just what the St. Louis Cardinals needed.
Fresh off of sweeping the Cincinnati Reds, another National League Central rival came to town… the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals had just beaten the Reds 10-2 in the series finale on Wednesday night and they looked to carry that momentum into Thursday’s game.
And it definitely carried over.
Despite being down 3-0 in the first inning, the Cardinals were able to bounce back with clutch power hitting from Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Piscotty to win 7-3. The starting pitchers for the evening’s game were Michael Wacha (16-6, 3.08), and Taylor Jungmann (9-6, 3.31).
In the first inning, Milwaukee came out swinging against Wacha and scored first when Jason Rogers scored Scooter Gennett on an RBI single. Not long after, Hernan Perez hit a double that scored both Rogers and Domingo Santana to make it a 3-0 lead for the Brewers.
The 3-0 lead carried into the bottom of the third inning for the Brewers, but it would not last long. With Jason Heyward on first, and Tommy Pham on third, Peralta hit a towering three-run home run, his first home run since August 1 to tie up the game at 3-3. A solo shot right afterwards by Piscotty gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. Piscotty would strike again two innings later when he hit a two-RBI single, scoring Matt Carpenter and Pham to give the Cardinals a 6-3 lead.
As for Wacha, it was not one of his best starts. Much like Lance Lynn prior to Wednesday, he’s been in a slump of sorts. He couldn’t last past the sixth inning, with his final line for the game being: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 Ks.
The final run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Piscotty singled once again to score Heyward and make it 7-3.
Strong bullpen pitching from Steve Cishek, Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton, and Matt Belisle finished off the Brewers, as the Cardinals won their 97th game of the year to improve to 41 games over the .500 mark.
On Friday, Carlos Martinez will get the start.
