It was a pitcher’s duel!
1st
This will be a little bit stream of consciousness, went to bed at 5am and woke up 5 hours later kind of recap today. So take it how you will, I am sort of paying attention to the game and sort of lost in my own brain. I had a show in Columbia MO last night that went well but also went late, staying to see all the bands after mine. It was a good night if a bit too late.
Brendan Donovan got totally jobbed by the ump, should have walked but he was called on strikes with a pitch too high. Herrera was awarded first base and I think was hit in the hand? That made me freak out a little bit.
The Cardinals didn’t score any runs. Mikolas labored through the first inning allowing runners at first and second, but was able to come out of it unscathed.
2nd
Brewers starter Priester got through the first two batters very quickly and faced Gorman with two outs. He got Gorman to ground out.
Mikolas in the second was effective enough, after giving up a double to Brice Turang he was able to cruise through the bottom of the Brewers lineup which featured some negative WAR position players. It was still a little nerve-wracking watching Burly barely catch a ball in left field, a close call…
3rd
Jordan Walker is back on the team, grounding out again. Priester struck out Victor Scott II on some junk in the dirt. Barrero was our negative WAR guy at the bottom of the order. He took some big cuts and popped out to left field.
Herrera was behind the plate this afternoon, and Mikolas was at his best in the third inning. After retiring Frelick, Miles struck out Jackson Chourio and William Contreras to end the inning, moving his K total to 6 on the day!
4th
If you had a pitcher’s duel predicted for this Sunday, you got one. I would not have expected… But it was 0-0 after three innings. Brendan Donovan got things started with a single. Herrera was up, and got gifted a ball on a strike low in the zone. It was a full count and capitalized on this opportunity, umpire karma leveling out and Ivan ended up with a single. Donovan was at third and on a strange play, he tried to score on a sacrifice fly by Burleson that wasn’t very deep… Which made Donovan go back to third after attempting to score. The throw from the outfield ended up being wild and Herrera took second while Donovan missed out on a scoring opportunity. There was only one out though and Donovan eventually scored on a Contreras ground out. 1-0 Cardinals.
Arenado was up with Herrera now at third, and while he worked the count a bit, he ended up just grounding out for out #3.
The one run lead didn’t last long, because Christian Yelich hit a solo home run off of Mikolas! Hoskins reached on a Barrero botched play. I should mention that Barrero was at shortstop this game, and that is not too good for Mikolas in my opinion. The 4th inning Miles was back to feeling barely able to hold back the brewers offense through a combination of being hittable and a little wild today.
Mikolas threw a curve in the dirt which bounced and allowed the two runners to advance to second and third. The two teams combined to go 0-8 with RISP at this point in the game. But Milwaukee was able to hit a sacrifice fly to score a run. 2-1 Brewers.
Joey Ortiz was up with two outs. Mikolas picked up his 7th K of the day and kept the Cardinals down by one run.
5th
Nolan Gorman was up, and almost hit a home run… But it was just foul. A Brewers fan made a pretty amazing catch on the ball. Gorman ended up grounding out.
Jordan Walker was up, watched a pitch he should’ve crushed go right down the middle. He worked the count to 2-2. Fouled off a pitch that was just a little high. Fouled off another pitch on the inside of the strike zone. He smoked a hit on a one hopper that the third baseman could not handle. It was a scorched single too awkward to defend against.
Victor Scott II wasted a strike trying to bunt. I wonder how well he would be hitting if he wasn’t trying to bunt so much. He was an out. Barrero was batting last in the order and popped up. I also wonder how long this Barrero experiment will last.
In the 5th the good version of the Lizard King was back, inducing groundouts to all three top of the order Milwaukee hitters.
6th
Brendan Donovan singled to start things out again. Burleson was up with one out. I might bat Burly leadoff with no Nootbaar. Alec flied out to the warning track in center. Cleanup man Willson Contreras was up, and he got jammed and popped up.
Cardinals were down 2-1, with Mikolas still on the mound. Strikeouts wise, this was his best game of the season! Yelich picked up an infield hit which was almost prevented by Barrero, but to no avail. The throw was late and off the bag. Still, it was a pretty good play that might have prevented a double.
Mikolas was able to easily get through this inning and made today one of his best starts of the season. He kept the game only down by one run.
7th
Brewers bullpen man Uribe had a great season so far. If this was a sign of how good Milwaukee’s bullpen is, this would still be a pitchers duel for certain. Arenado chased and struck out. He doesn’t K much. But he did that time.
Gorman took an inside pitch as a strike, then he swung at a weird pitch to hit and somehow muscled a sinking pitch into the outfield, sort of a Texas leaguer but not really.
It was the 7th inning stretch and we got some God Bless America action.
King was in to relieve Mikolas after a high quality start. He gave up a hit right away. They barely had an out on a play that might’ve had a Brewers runner actually safe but they called him out. Another hit. A stolen base vs Herrera, a given. Runners on second and third. A little dribbler ended up being a run scoring out. 3-1 Brewers.
King was yanked from the game and Leahy was in to limit any more damage on a day where runs were scarce. A two run lead on this day felt a little insurmountable. So it might have already been too late.
Kyle had to deal with a runner at third, but had two outs. Vs Chourio who hadn’t done well (.182 BA) with runs in scoring position this year. However, the count went full and then Chourio was struck out by Leahy! Cards down by 2.
8th
Possibly the last six outs. Would the Cardinals offense find a spark? Another good Brewers bullpen arm, Koenig was in, to try to keep the Cardinals lineup tamed. Winn was in to pinch hit for Barrero. The Brewers third baseman Durbin made an amazing play to stop Masyn from getting on base. One out. Donovan was the leadoff guy today and he was doing it well. He was quickly down 0-2 though. He flew out to left. It was two outs with Ivan Herrera up.
Herrera destroyed a pitch for his 8th home run of the season and it was a no doubter. Brad Thompson called it a thing of beauty. Obliterated. The Cardinals were only down by a run again.
Burleson was up. He crushed one too and hit a double into the right field corner, which was really not far from a home run as well. Contreras was up!
The Brewers opted to go with another bullpen arm and summoned Nick Mears, who was even better stats-wise than the previous two bullpen guys. Mears struck out Willson and the game moved on to the bottom of the 8th.
William Contreras was up so we saw back to back Contreras bros hitting, albeit on different teams. Good thing Winn was in for Barrero because his arm created an out on a weakly hit grounder, barely beating the runner!
Unfortunately Yelich then hit a double vs Leahy. One out. Hoskins was up. Man on second. Would Kyle Leahy persevere? Yes, he struck out Rhys Hoskins. Two out. Marmol decided to bring in another bullpen arm with the Cards down by only one run.
With no room for error today they brought in lefty JoJo Romero to face Brice Turang. This was the correct move as Romero was able to get a strikeout!
9th
Three outs left if down by a run. They had to score. Trevor Megill vs Nolan Arenado. 3-7 with two home runs vs Megill prior. Arenado was 0-3 on the day. Nolan fought off a bunch of pitches at 1-2 count. Certainly made Megill work! Ten pitches in. 2-2. Another foul! 8. Nolan Arenado won this battle and hit a single. Nolan Gorman was up.
Gorman did the unexpected and laid down a bunt hit after he battled a bit. What a move! No one out, runners on first and second. Jordan Walker up. Nobody out with a frustrated Megill on the mound. He struck out Walker.
Victor Scott II needed a hit! He was 0-3 on the day. He was quickly down 0-2. Took a ball. Then another ball, wild pitch! Which advanced the runners.
So Victor Scott II may not be hitting a lot lately but he is good with RISP. Today though, that didn’t matter, because he struck out.
Runners on second and third, Masyn Winn at the plate in the 9 spot. Two outs. Brendan Donovan on deck. The count went to 2-2 as Masyn whiffed at the ball, annoyed. And then he looked completely fooled on the last pitch, that struck him out. Masyn was our last hope and just didn’t look good at the plate to end the game.
Another one run loss this week and well, this has been super frustrating to say the least. A very bad stretch of both bad play and lame luck.
Offday tomorrow then the Cardinals face the White Sox on the Southside of Chicago on Tuesday at 6:40. I’m guessing the team could really use a day off at this point so I’m happy for them to be able to re-adjust and get ready again for another stretch of games.