Cardinals 4, Brewers 1: Clutch hitting takes night off

So much for clutch hitting being crucial to winning.

            The St. Louis Cardinals went 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position Saturday night but still pulled out a 4-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

            The decisive blow proved to be pinch-hitter Almedys Diaz’s leadoff home run off reliever Carlos Torres in the seventh inning, snapping a 1-1 tie. The Cards added two insurance runs in the ninth on Jedd Gyorko's RBI triple and an outfield error.

            Brewers starter Chase Anderson certainly did his part to try to win the game. Anderson continued his early-season success (1.13 earned run average) by holding the Cardinals to one unearned run over six innings before exiting at the 89-pitch mark. 

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BOX SCORE: Cardinals 4, Brewers 1      

            Normally, leadoff doubles are a good thing, but it didn’t work out that way for the Cardinals in the early going. Their first hitter doubled in each of the first three innings, including Greg Garcia twice, but it led to nothing as the following St. Louis hitters went a combined 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

            The Brewers used a double to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With two on and one down, extra-base machine Travis Shaw punched an opposite-field double to left to score Jonathan Villar from second base.

            Beginning with the next batter, St. Louis starter Lance Lynn went on an out-producing binge, retiring 11 consecutive hitters. Even coming off Tommy John surgery that nixed his 2016 season, it was old hat for Lynn, who was 8-3 with a 2.36 ERA against the Brewers for his career.

            The Cardinals switched from leadoff doubles to a one-out double by Randal Grichuk in the fourth and it led to the tying run, with considerable help from the Brewers. Leftfielder Ryan Braun charged in to make a diving catch of Kolten Wong’s shallow fly and tried to double off Grichuk at second but threw high, and the ball also got past first baseman Eric Thames and out of play, allowing the runner to score.

NOTES: Suter has been early-season yo-yo   

CHAT: Tom Haudricourt, 11 a.m. Tuesday

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            The Brewers don’t do much bunting under manager Craig Counsell and it probably will be a while before they try a suicide squeeze again. They attempted one in the fifth on a low 2-2 pitch to Anderson that he whiffed on, hanging Keon Broxton out to dry despite his prolonged attempt to escape a rundown.

            The Brewers caught a break in the eighth when Villar threw out Yadier Molina at the plate, a call the Cardinals challenged. After a review of 2 minutes 42 seconds, with angles that appeared to favor both sides, the out stood.

           Cards reliever Brett Cecil shut down a budding Brewers rally in the eighth by getting Shaw to pop out with the bases loaded.            

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

* One of the issues that leftfielders face at Miller Park with 6:10 p.m. starts is the setting sun that shines through the windows below the roof on the first-base side. Garcia led off the game with a high fly ball toward the corner that Braun had trouble tracking, and it landed on the warning track and bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double.

* The Cardinals were a bit beat up. Centerfielder Dexter Fowler was out with a bruised heel and shortstop Diaz sat with back and shoulder issues until smashing his pinch-hit home run.

STAT SHEET

* No one can accuse the Brewers’ offense of starting slowly. They are batting .325 in the first inning with 17 runs scored, nine doubles, five homers and 12 walks. They have held a lead at some point in 17 of their 19 games.

* The Cardinals love playing at Miller Park, as evidenced by the 24 consecutive games there in which they have at least one home run.  

TAKEAWAY

Some losses are tougher to take than others. The Brewers didn't give themselves much of a chance to win the game despite the Cards' issues with runners in scoring position. Outfield errors resulted in two runs scoring and the offense languished, finishing 1 for 8 with RISP.                       

RECORD

This year: 9-10  (3-7 home; 6-3 away)

Last year: 8-11

ATTENDANCE

Saturday: 30,865

2017 total: 301,179 (30,118 avg.)

Last year: 284,650 (28,465 avg.)

NEXT GAME

Sunday: Brewers vs. Cardinals, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Jimmy Nelson (1-0, 4.42) vs. St. Louis RHP Mike Leake (2-1, 0.84). TV: FS Wisconsin, Telemundo. Radio: AM-620.