For the first time in what feels like the entire series, the Brewers took the first lead of the game early on and made it large. Backed by Logan Henderson’s stellar first start since May 22, Jake Bauers had the decisive three-run home run in the top of the third inning to carry the Crew to an 8-4 win.
In a rare five-game series, the Brewers went into Busch Stadium and showcased a little bit of everything. From comebacks to dominant pitching to the opposite of both, but for the first time since July
2008, the Brewers won four games in St. Louis, pushing themselves 18 games above .500.
Henderson came out firing in the bottom of the first inning as he struck out two of the top four hitters in the Cardinals lineup in Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson.
In the top of the second inning, the offense was jump-started by Bauers with a single to center field. After a wild pitch sent Bauers to second base, Andrew Vaughn then grounded into a fielder’s choice. During the play, Bauers pulled off an acrobatic move to prevent himself from being tagged out as the lead runner.
Because of the “Okie-Doke” move (name of the acrobatic play per Bauers in a postgame interview), Sal Frelick drove in the first run of the game to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Then, almost instantly, Cooper Pratt added another run with a base hit up the middle to extend their lead to 2-0. Pratt continues his hot stretch at the plate as he now has nine hits over his last 22 at-bats with four RBIs and six walks.
After Henderson’s clean 1-2-3 inning in the second, Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio set the Brewers up for another big inning. Brice Turang drove in his first RBI of the game with a base hit himself to extend the Brewers lead to 3-0. A couple of batters later, Andrew Pallante missed with a curveball up to Bauers, and he ripped it to right field for a three-run home run to further extend the Brewers lead to 6-0.
Henderson continued to dominate in his first outing since returning from the injured list, as he retired 10 batters in a row before giving up a double to Burleson to give the Cardinals life. After a groundout from Walker, Lars Nootbaar singled on a base hit to center field to put the Cardinals on the board for the first time tonight to make it 6-1.
After Henderson’s first blip on the radar in the bottom of the fourth inning, he hit JJ Wetherholt to lead off the bottom of the sixth, snapping his recent streak of retiring four batters in a row. He then struck out Iván Herrera before walking Burleson, signaling the end of his return to the Brewers rotation.
Replacing Henderson was Chad Patrick, who instantly gave up a three-run home run to Walker, cutting the Brewers’ lead down to 6-4. That was the lone blemish on the night for Patrick as he settled in, retiring the next five batters he faced.
In attempts to re-extend their lead, Turang homered to lead off the top of the seventh inning to center field to make it 7-4.
Aaron Ashby came in for relief in the bottom of the eighth inning, where he looked to end his streak of stressful outings. That did not happen tonight, as he allowed a base hit to Wetherhold and walked Herrera with no outs. Having to face the tying run at the plate for the rest of the way put fans and the players alike on edge, but Ashby prevailed as he forced a groundout to Burleson, struck out Walker, and got Nootbaar to pop out.
Team Venezuela helped add an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Chourio doubled to open the inning and William Contreras later hit a sacrifice flyout to push the Brewers’ lead to 8-4.
The Brewers finish their time in St. Louis this season going 7-1, and walking away with the season series locked up. They’ll finish out their long road trip as the Brewers head to Pittsburgh for the first time this season for the start of a three-game series. Tomorrow night will be the start of the final series before the All-Star Break as the Brewers face off against the Pirates, with first pitch at 5:40 p.m.
