Brewers-Cardinals - Series Recap

The Brewers could have easily went 6-2 on their road trip but instead ended up 2-6 after losing two to the Reds on walk-off hits and blowing two large leads to the Cardinals. The Brewers lost three of four games to the Cardinals in St. Louis in the four-game set. This was the Brewers' last trip to St. Louis this year.

Friday - Brewers win 12-2: The Brewers looked to start the series off on a good note and they did just that. Not even the rain could stop the Brewers on Friday night. The Brewers pounded out 12 runs and 19 hits against Cardinal pitching. Claudio Vargas was on the mound looking to eat up some innings for the Brewers. He rose to the challenge and he had his longest outing of the season. Vargas pitched eight solid innings and gave up two runs and nine hits. He also struck eight and walked just one Cardinal hitter. It was the first time this year that Vargas threw more than six innings.

The Brewers got their scoring going in the third inning with a J.J. Hardy RBI single that scored Corey Hart who reached on a double. Three hitters later, Bill Hall singled home Hardy and Prince Fielder who just hit a ground-rule double. Then the rains came and there was a 39-minute delay. After the delay, the Brewers kept things going in the inning. Three straight singles by Kevin Mench, Johnny Estrada and Tony Graffanino scored two more runs to give the Brewers a five-run lead after two and a half innings. Hart added to the Brewers' lead in the fourth inning with a solo home run. A leadoff double by Bill Hall chased Cardinals starting pither Mike Maroth from the game. Kelvin Jimenez replaced Maroth and things did not get much better for the Cardinals. The Brewers tacked on four runs in the inning with Graffanino, Hart, Hardy and Braun picking up RBI in the inning. Graffanino picked up another RBI in the ninth inning and Geoff Jenkins drove home Graffanino with a double as a pinch hitter. Mench ended up with four hits. Hall and Hart each had three hits for the Crew.

Saturday - Game 1 - Cardinals win 7-6: This one looked like a Brewer win for much of the afternoon. The Brewers struck first in the first inning with a solo homer from Ryan Braun. Then, the Crew added to their lead with a three-run second inning. All three of those runs came after two outs which would become a theme for this game. Craig Counsell doubled in Damian Miller for the first run in the inning. Braun then singled home Counsell and Hart to bring the Brewers lead to 4-0. In the top of the fourth inning, the Brewers scored two more runs with two outs. Brewers starting pitcher Manny Parra picked up his first major leauge hit with a two-run double that scored Graffanino and Miller. Cardinals pitched Brad Thompson pitched only three innings in the game.

The Cardinals started their comeback in the bottom of the third inning. Parra gave up two unearned runs in the inning to bring the Cardinals within four. Braun committed a fielding error that allowed David Eckstein to reach. Albert Pujols brought home the first run for the Cardinals with a sacrifice fly that scored Aaron Miles. Juan Encarnacion then singled home Eckstein for his first of three RBI in the game. Encarnacion came up another two-out RBI single in the fifth inning that scored Pujols who doubled. That run cut the Brewers lead in half at 6-3. Parra left after the sixth inning and was charged with just one earned run. That gave Parra a quality start in first ever start in the bigs. Encarnacion recorded his third RBI again with two outs in the seventh inning a bring the Cardinals within two runs. As for the Brewers, their offense shut down after the third inning. They were only able to record one hit after the third inning. Still, the Brewers were in line to win the game after Derrick Turnbow pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Francisco Cordero came to close for the Crew and was unable to get the job done for a second straight outing. Cordero gave up four hits and three runs including the game-winning single by Ryan Ludwick. The Brewers' closer now has five blown saves this year and all of them have come on the road.

Saturday - Game 2 - Cardinals win 5-2: This game started the exact opposite way the first game of the doubleheader did for the Brewers. The Cardinals picked up three runs in the bottom of the first inning off Brewers' starter Chris Capuano. Again, the damage came with two outs in the inning. Capuano was able to get Pujols to hit into a double play which left Eckstein at third base. After a walk of Encarnacion, Rolen doubled home Eckstein for the first run of the game. Jim Edmonds then singled which scored Encarnacion and Rolen. After giving up those runs, Capuano really settled down and threw five straight scoreless innings. The Brewers picked up two runs during those innings to pull within one. Fielder scored on a sac fly off the bat of Jenkins in the second inning and Hart hit a solo homer in the sixth.

The Brewers were unable to get any closer than one run. Ryan Franklin and Jason Isringhausen shut down the Brewers for the final three innings of the game. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cardinals picked up two insurance runs. After facing two batters in that inning, Capuano was replaced by Matt Wise leaving Eckstein at third base who doubled to lead off the inning. Eckstein would come around to score on a single by Pujols. For some reason the Brewers decided to go after Pujols even with first base open. Brewers televsion analyst Bill Schroeder did not like the decision from the beginning of Pujols' at-bat and he was right. Pujols then stole second base and scored on a single by Encarnacion. That would be the end of the scoring for the night.

Sunday - Cardinals win 9-5: The Brewers struck first with a three-run third inning off Cardinals starter Kip Wells. Braun singled home Hart for the first run of the game. Wells then struck out Fielder and Hall, both looking. The Brewers added to their lead in the fifth when Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo had a two-run single that scored Hall and Fielder. Rickie Weeks was intentionally walked by Wells so he could face Gallardo with two outs. Obviously, that decision did not work for the Cardinals.

Gallardo did not give up a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning. That is when things came apart for Gallardo. Scott Spiezio led off the inning with a double. Spiezio scored on an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Encarnacion. Eckstein batted next and he doubled home Yadier Molina who reached on a four-pitch walk. Encarnacion scored on a passed ball by Estrada while Ludwick was batting. As the rains came down, Ludwick grounded out to Hardy but Eckstein scored the Cardinals' fourth run of the inning to bring them within one. Gallardo was pulled after the fifth inning. His final line was five innings, four earned runs, four hits, seven strikeouts, and two walks.

The Cardinals finished their comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning. After Scott Linebrink got out of a jam in the seventh inning, Turnbow and Carlos Villanueva could not do the same thing in the eighth. Turnbow and Villanueva combined to give up five runs in the inning and that was the game. Scott Rolen signed home Skip Schumaker to tie the game off Turnbow. Two batters later, Villanueva walked Ludwick which scored the go ahead run for the Cardinals. Pulojs then cleared the bases with a double that scored thee runs.