Cardinals win seventh-straight series with 7-2 win over Brewers, Mikolas picks up 13th win, as Harry Bader and Pauly Deez continue to do their thang
Some early fireworks were set off tonight, as Mikolas would run a fastball too far inside to Lo-Cain, hitting him to his displeasure. Seriously, Cain was not happy.
The Brewers would snatch the first lead of the game tonight, getting on the board with a solo HR from Travis Shaw to leadoff the top of the 2nd. The solo shot would be the only mistake the Lizard King made this evening, picking up back-to-back k’s to end the 1st before the solo HR. Mikolas strikeout to Aguilar on the high-curveball set the tone for an angry Jesús Aguilar the rest of the game.
With two outs in the bottom of the 1st and Tyler O’Neill up to bat, Miley would throw a low inside fastball, going through the legs of O’Neill. Home plate umpire, Cory Blaser would issue warning to both sides and Craig Counsell didn’t like it, on top of other calls already tonight. Blaser would eject the Brewers manager 5 outs into the game.
Swags would tie the game with a leadoff HR to open up the bottom of the 2nd, raking a high-changeup to Big Mac Land, sending it 450 feet.
Mikolas would deliver a 7-pitch, 1-2-3, 3rd inning, striking out Yelich on an excellent slider to begin the inning. Cain and Moustakas would be retired on ground outs, putting Mikolas at 46 pitches.
The Cardinals would have one of the strangest innings of the season in the bottom of the 3rd, plating 3 runs in odd fashion. Kolten Wong led the inning off with a single to RF, later getting hit on the elbow on a Miley pickoff attempt. The Liz King would bunt into a 1-6 fielder’s choice, and Wong would be removed from the game with an elbow contusion. Carp then grounded into a 3-5 fielder’s choice, with a shifted infield, for the second out. Miley then looked to have the final out, striking out Yadi, but the ball would scoot to the backstop, getting behind Kratz for a passed ball to bring in O’Neill. Mr. Canada would bloop an RBI single over Aguilar’s head, a play that should’ve been made for the final out, (like the millionth time this inning) bringing in Swags. Swags would draw a four-pitch walk to bring in Pauly Deez. With a shifted infield on the left-side, Deez would ground a two-run single through the right-side of the infield, scoring Yadi and O’Neill to make it 4-1 Cardinals.
The Liz King would throw 22 pitches to work through the 4th and 5th innings, retiring the side in order on 14 pitches in the 4th. Miley matched Mikolas his 4th inning, picking up strikeouts four and five on Garcia (playing 2B for Wong) and Mikolas to end the inning.
Miley would break up a string of 9-straight batters set down by Mikolas, hitting a two-out infield single in the top of the 5th. Mikolas ended the inning on his 8th pitch as he got Yelich to pop out to Carp on the first pitch.
The Lizard King found himself in a pickle in the 6th inning, serving a leadoff double to Lo-Cain. Moustakas would fly out to Harry, bringing in Aguilar who would single to RF, advancing to 2B on the throwing error from O’Neill. Mikolas ended his evening with two HUGE strikeouts to escape the one-out jam, getting Shaw swinging at a curve and Thames (pinch-hitting for Broxton) to go down looking at a slider.
Lizard King final line: (6IP, 5 hits, 1r/1er, 0 bb, 7 k’s, 64 game score)
The Cardinals added two more insurance runs to their total in the bottom of the 6th. Pauly reached base on a throwing error from Arcia with one out, stealing his first base of the year a batter later. Trap House drew a walk to bring in the man, the myth, the legend, HAAAAAAAARRY. Bader came up clutch again, smacking a two-run triple to RF, sliding in safely while scooping da salsa to make it 6-1 Cardinals.
The Bullpen:
Mike Mayers worked the 7th inning tonight, tossing 16 pitches, retiring the side in order. Mayers would strikeout Arcia and Schoop (pinch-hitting) back-to-back to end the inning. Chasen Shreve was tasked with the 8th inning tonight, as the lefty was greeted with a leadoff bomb from Christian Yelich to make it 6-2 Cards. Shreve bounced back, getting the next three batters, with some help from that crazy CF’er. After Lo-Cain grounded out softly in front of the plate, Moustakas would step in to the box. Moustakas hit a ball to CF, looking to drop in for a single, but Haaaaaaaarry would come sprinting and diving in, taking away the base-hit. Incredible, just incredible. Is anyone surprised anymore? Jeez. Shreve ended the inning striking out Aguilar on a splitter. Aguilar was not happy with himself, slamming his bat and his helmet down in front of the plate. He’s been a grumpy fella this weekend, I hope everything is okay.
Pauly Deez added another insurance run to the board in the bottom of the 8th, ripping an RBI double into LF, scoring Swags who drew a leadoff walk, making it 7-2 Redbirds.
Daniel Poncedeleon closed things out in the 9th inning, retiring the side in order on 14 pitches. Ponce would get Shaw to fly out to Bader, strikeout Thames on a high heater, and get Kratz to fly out to Swags to end the night with a Cardinals victory.
With the win, the Cardinals now leapfrog the Brewers for 2nd place in the NLC and for the 2nd wildcard spot in the NL playoff race. What a turnaround. This past month has been a helluva ride, let’s keep it rolling tomorrow with a sweep.
John Gant (5-4, 3.74) aims to finish off the weekend sweep tomorrow afternoon, he will be matched up against Jhoulys Chacín (12-4, 3.72). First pitch 1:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
Game 124 is in the books
by Stew/@StewStilez
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