ST. LOUIS — For the second night in a row, the Cardinals found themselves losing 1-0 going to the eighth inning, with only one hit, before they rallied to tie the game.
That’s where the similarity between the two games ended.
Unlike Tuesday night, the Cardinals lost when a missed third strike, on what would have been the third out, followed by a double and a long two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth gave the Brewers the win on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
The pitch from Ryan Helsley, clocked at 101 miles per hour, sailed past Yadier Molina to the backstop and Daniel Vogelbach was able to reach first base. Travis Shaw doubled in a pinch-runner before Avaisail Garcia hit the home run.
That unusual rally came after the Brewers scored their first run in an inning that began with a hit batter, Lorenzo Cain, who scored from second when Harrison Bader lost his footing at the edge of the warning track catching a fly ball hit by Shaw. After catching the ball while falling down, Bader lost it as he tried to pull it out of his glove to throw it back to the infield.
“That’s baseball,” said manager Mike Shildt. “Things happen .. Good ballgame, we just came out on the short end of it.”
Here is how Wednesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals’ only hit off Brandon Woodruff until the eighth was a sixth-inning single by Bader. He was only their second baserunner, after Woodruff had retired 12 batters in row following an error that let Nolan Arenado reach base leading off the second … The next hit for the Cardinals was a homer by Tyler O’Neill, his seventh of the year, with one out in the eighth …Despite falling behind 4-1 and facing Josh Hader, the Cardinals got the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth after Paul Goldschmidt doubled with one out and Arenado drew a walk, but Edmundo Sosa hit into a force out and Molina struck out.
On the mound: John Gant kept the Brewers scoreless into the sixth, allowing just two infield hits in the first and a single in the fifth as he lowered his ERA to 1.83. The run in the sixth was unearned because of an error charged to Bader … Genesis Cabrera got out of that infield with a double play and worked a 1-2-3 seventh before Helsley relieved to start the eighth. He got two fly ball outs before the missed third strike ignited the Brewers winning rally.
Key stat: The home run by Garcia snapped a streak of five-plus games since the last homer allowed by the Cardinals, a span of 250 plate appearances. The Cardinals bullpen also had gone 22 consecutive games without allowing a homer.
Worth noting: Paul DeJong came out of the game after striking out in the fifth inning with what was described as left side tightness. He had been hit by a pitch on Tuesday night but stayed in the game. Shildt said he felt something “grab” when he was trying to make a play on defense. DeJong is scheduled to get an MRI on Thursday … Miles Mikolas is scheduled to make a third rehab start for Triple A Memphis on Sunday. It is possible he could return to the Cardinals rotation if that start goes well.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals will send Jack Flaherty to the mound for the 12:40 p.m. game on Thursday that will conclude the series. The game will be broadcast on You Tube and not on Bally Sports Midwest.
