Things were looking promising until the games final two pitches.
A game that led off with back-to-back jacks from Fowler and Pham, ends with back-to-back jacks from Yelich and Braun as the Brewers walk-off victorious.
Jack Flaherty toed the rubber at Miller Park for his first start of the season and he was fantastic.
Flaherty’s first time through the Brewers order he tallied 6 strikeouts, all via the slider.
Flaherty was able to pitch with an added confidence after the offense gave him an early 4-0 lead.
The scoring started when Dexter Fowler hit Chase Anderson’s first pitch over the wall in RF for a leadoff HR.
Tommy Pham followed that up with a HR himself, a towering drive to RCF.
But Pham wouldn’t stop there. Coming off the fresh Sports Illustrated article, Pham was trying to prove a point tonight, he’s legit and 2017 wasn’t a fluke.
Pham was a triple away from the cycle going (3-5) with a stolen base on top it. Oh, his second outfield assist can be added to his highlight reel as well. Pham gunned down Manny Piña as he tried scoring the Brewers first run of the game on a Villar single up the middle. Seriously, it wasn’t even close, Maloney would be proud of Ed Sedar.
José Martínez continued his quite hitting onslaught collecting 3 singles finishing the night (3-4). Martínez is batting (.444 with a HR and 4 RBI’s) to start the season.
Marcell Ozuna added his first HR in a Cardinals uniform as he absolutely unleashed on a Chase Anderson fastball. The HR traveled 479 feet and came off the bat at a blazing speed of 117mph, the hardest hit from a Cardinals batter in the Statcast era (2015).
That would end the Cardinals scoring for the night and the rest would be up to Flaherty and the bullpen.
Flaherty held up on his end as he worked a strong 5 innings against a very good Milwaukee lineup.
Flaherty was a strikeout machine tonight and the slider was a huge part.The pitch was dancing on all corners tonight. He finished the evening with a line of (5 innings, 6 hits, 1 earned, 1 walk, & 9 strikeouts) as the ball was then handed over to the pen.
Sherriff and Bowman pitched a combined 2 scoreless innings giving up no hits, then the 8th inning rolled around.
Tyler Lyons got the nod in the 8th and wasn’t able to miss left-handed bats. Allowing a leadoff double to Yelich, an RBI single to Shaw, & a single to Thames that forced Matheny to turn to Leone for a possible 5-out save opportunity.
Leone escaped the inning striking out Piña and later getting Arcia to flyout with 2 outs to Pham with the tying run stranded on 3rd.
Leone made quick work of pinch-hitter Eric Sogard and Lorenzo Cain in the bottom of the 9th.
Then trouble came.
Yelich smashed the game tying HR off Leone and the bleeding didn’t stop there. One pitch later, Ryan Braun took Leone deep to walk it off for the Brewers.
The Cardinals bats were held scoreless from the Brewers bullpen as they worked 5 perfect innings against a hot Cardinals lineup.
The game was promising all night until the game’s final two pitches. A game that started with back-to-back Cardinals HR’s, ends with back-to-back Brewers HR’s for a devastating loss.
There is a chance of a Tsunami alert in Milwaukee tomorrow around 6:40pm c/t, hope you all can join me then.
Until then, Thanks for reading , Cheers!
Stew // @StewStilez
