MILWAUKEE (AP) — José Fermín and Nathan Church hit RBI singles as the St. Louis Cardinals scored all their runs in the second inning of a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
The victory kept the Cardinals from going winless during a six-game road trip.
Milwaukee lost a day after becoming the first major league team to clinch a playoff berth.
Riley O’Brien allowed a two-out walk to Andruw Monasterio in the ninth before striking out Sal Frelick to earn his fourth save in seven opportunities. It was a measure of redemption for O’Brien, who allowed three runs without retiring a batter in a 9-8, 10-inning loss to Milwaukee on Saturday.
In the second inning, Brewers starter José Quintana (11-7) allowed six of the first seven Cardinals batters to reach.
Thomas Saggese hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on Nolan Gorman’s double and scored on a Pedro Pagés sacrifice fly before Jordan Walker walked. Fermin singled home Gorman, and Church singled home Walker.
Milwaukee got solo homers from Caleb Durbin in the fourth and Danny Jansen in the fifth. Jansen’s homer was his 12th of the season but first since July 20. It also was the first time he’d gone deep since the Brewers acquired him from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline.
Those were the only runs Miles Mikolas (8-10) allowed in his five innings.
Key moment
The Brewers had runners on first and second with two outs in the sixth when Blake Perkins greeted Jorge Alcala with a 104.3-mph liner to right that Walker snared to the the threat.
Key stat
Over his last four starts, Mikolas has allowed six runs in 21 innings. He hasn’t given up more than two runs in any of those appearances.
Up next
The Cardinals return home to begin a series with the Cincinnati Reds. Monday’s scheduled pitchers are Matthew Liberatore (7-12, 4.35 ERA) for St. Louis and Cincinnati’s Zack Littell (9-8, 3.78).
The Brewers are off Monday before starting a home series with the Los Angeles Angels. The scheduled pitchers for Tuesday are Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta (16-8, 2.89) and Los Angeles’ Caden Dana (0-1, 8.32).