Losers of three of their last four games, the Brewers head into the four-day break in fourth place in the National League Central with a 38-49 record in Year 1 of their rebuild.
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Mike Leake struck out 10 over seven innings, Matt Adams and Randal Grichuk homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Milwaukee 5-1 on Sunday. The Redbirds did their damage on ten hits and seven walks with Tommy Pham and Jhonny Peralta going solo while Aledmys Diaz cracked a three run homer.
It was the Brewers first walk of win since May of 2015.
Playing with a lineup depleted by injuries, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny enjoyed the Cardinals’ powerful finish. Carter followed Lucroy with his second home run of the night for a 3-2 Brewers lead. Milwaukee doesn’t have a ton to write home about and are expected to be heavy players at the trade deadline as guys like Jonathan Lucroy and Ryan Braun are involved in trade rumors, as is Jeremy Jeffress who has been very impressive this season as a part time turned full time closer and he could really help out a team’s bullpen for a playoff push. The right-hander allowed 1 run and 4 hits with 4 walks. In 12 career starts against Milwaukee, he’s 3-4 with a 4.58 ERA and 3-2 with a 4.81 mark in eight starts at Miller Park. The ball ricocheted violently, and loudly, to third baseman Greg Garcia, who threw out Villar. Diaz then used his speed _ and third base coach Chris Maloney’s daring _ to score all the way from first as Brewers center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis couldn’t control the ball on a sliding catch he tried to make on Stephen Piscotty.
Earlier in the week, the Cardinals placed All-Star second baseman Matt Carpenter (oblique), backup catcher Brayan Pena (knee inflammation) and Brandon Moss (ankle sprain), the team’s leading home run hitter, on the disabled list.
After surrendering the lead in the eighth, the Brewers won the game in the bottom of the ninth with a Villar single to left field. Grichuk took him deep with one out in the sixth, marking the first time Guerra allowed multiple home runs in a game since June 4. Guerra has been outstanding the past two times out with 15.1 frames of scoreless baseball.
Matt Shoemaker (4-9) allowed three runs and five hits in five-plus innings to earn his first win since May 27. Once again, the Brewers couldn’t cash in, going down in order against Leake, who faced just two over the minimum for his final four innings.
Leake gave up six hits in all, didn’t issue a walk and struck out a season-high 10.
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Christian Yelich homered and drove in two runs and Derek Dietrich also knocked in a run for the Marlins, who returned home after a 3-6 road trip. St. Louis are 24-9 in the last 33 meetings in Milwaukee and are 47-21 in the last 68 meetings. The Crew is off until Friday when they open up a weekend series in Cincinnati. In his past six starts, Wacha has a 3.00 ERA.
