Nelson’s had a rough go this season, he has a 1.51 WHIP along with a 4.42 ERA. “We’ve had the mindset of one game at a time all year, and I think that’s going to pay off”.
Advertisement
Milwaukee led 3-0 and Nelson had retired the first eight batters when Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Stephen Piscotty leads St. Louis with 142 hits, Yadier Molina has 47 RBI and Matt Carpenter has 19 home runs.
“There were some guys who haven’t faced him very often”, said Counsell, referring to the likes of Keon Broxton, Hernan Perez, Domingo Santana, Jonathan Villar and rookie Orlando Arcia.
Hill (3-0) had thrown 89 pitches and struck out nine when first-year manager Dave Roberts replaced the 35-year-old left-hander with Joe Blanton at the start of the eighth inning. “Make mistakes to those guys and that’s what’s going to happen”. Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the first when Gennett walked, Chris Carter was hit by a pitch and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a hard one-hopper that shortstop Jedd Gyorko did not handle.
Zach Davies pitched 7 1-3 innings and gave up one run on five hits while striking out seven and walking one.
Milwaukee had just four hits in the game, with Braun getting the only one after the fifth inning. “He was masterful. He was rolling so good, I thought he was our best shot (in the eighth)”. “We gave him the extra outs”.
The Brewers lost for only the second time in their past nine games and had a five-game road winning streak end.
“He hit a couple of foul balls there where he took really good swings”, Counsell said. The Brewers have homered in eight consecutive games.
The Cardinals are a half-game behind the Mets for the second wild-card slot.
Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances. Pinch-hitter Ryan Braun grounded into a force at second for the final out.
RED SOX 13, BLUE JAYS 3 Rick Porcello pitched seven innings to become the first 20-game victor in the majors, Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run home run and Boston increased its AL East lead to two games by routing host Toronto. Piscotty made a running, over-the-head catch that saved a run in the sixth and Wong helped Martinez escape the third by making strong plays on two grounders at second base.
“He was a little jumpy at the beginning”, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Martinez.
Cardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz (right thumb) went 2 for 4 for Double-A Springfield in a rehab start Friday night.
Advertisement
Cardinals: RHP Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) threw live batting practice. Since his return August 19, Santana has made this point almost self-evident, batting.311/.396/.533 with three home runs, eight runs batted in, and two stolen bases in 18 games – only 11 of which he actually started. The Cardinals had not had a starter last past the fifth inning in any of their four previous games, and had seen their starter allow four or more runs in seven of their last 12 home games dating back to August 6.
