Coverage of tonight's Cards and Brewers game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 6:40pm.
St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Khris Davis' RBI triple in the 12th inning
proved to be the difference as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the St. Louis
Cardinals, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game series Monday.
Jonathan Lucroy led off the 12th with a double to left off Seth Maness (0-2)
and Martin Maldonado moved him over to third on a groundout. Davis then poked
one down the left-field line with two strikes but Matt Holliday trotted over
to the chalk and allowed the ball to drop in foul territory so Lucroy couldn't
score on a sacrifice fly.
"That was a great play," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "That was a
heads-up play."
But two pitches later, Davis pounded one into the right-field corner for his
triple. He scored on a Mark Reynolds sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to
account for the final margin.
Zach Duke (2-0) allowed one hit and two walks in two innings to pick up the
win and Francisco Rodriguez fired a scoreless 12th for his 12th save of the
season.
Lyle Overbay, Scooter Gennett and Aramis Ramirez all knocked in a run for the
Brewers, who have won four of their last five.
Yovani Gallardo allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings in the no-
decision for Milwaukee.
"This win was huge," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "It was a great win.
We'll do what we can tomorrow. We'll be a little short in the bullpen but
we'll be OK. Again, we got some big hits."
Holliday went 3-for-6 with a home run and two RBI and Allen Craig had a solo
homer in the setback.
St. Louis starter Michael Wacha took a no-decision after pitching 6 1/3
innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts.
"I thought (Wacha) looked pretty good," Matheny said. "We like his ability to
get out of tough spots when you have swing-and-miss stuff like he has."
Matt Carpenter doubled to lead off the home half of the first, moved over to
third on a Jon Jay flyout and scored on Holliday's single to center.
Holliday increased the cushion with a solo blast to center in the sixth and
Craig added a solo shot to left two batters later which staked the Cardinals
to a 3-0 advantage.
Jeff Bianchi walked with one out in the seventh and the Brewers chased Wacha
from the game with four straight singles to cut the deficit to 3-2. Overbay
knocked in Bianchi after an Elian Herrera single and Gennett drove in Herrera
two batters later.
Pat Neshek replaced Wacha with the bases loaded and struck out Lucroy for the
second out of the frame. After getting ahead in the count to Ramirez, Neshek's
fastball ran in on the Milwaukee slugger and hit him, plating Overbay and
tying the game. Davis flied out to left to end the inning.
With two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth,
Carpenter rolled over on a pitch, but reached base on a Martin Maldanado's
missed catch error that loaded the bases.
Jay grounded out to second on the first pitch of his at-bat to end the threat.
Holliday doubled to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning but was caught in a
rundown in the next at-bat when Peter Bourjos bunted it hard back to Reynolds
at third base.
Reynolds gunned it to Bianchi, who tossed it to Gennett to get Holliday and
the Cardinals couldn't muster anything from there.
Game Notes
Milwaukee was without Ryan Braun and Jean Segura. Braun has a strained chest
muscle and Segura is still recovering from a right cheek bruise and
swelling on his face after Braun hit him with a practice swing on Saturday ...
Gallardo allowed two runs or fewer in each of his first five starts prior to
Monday ... St. Louis was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 13
men on base ... Milwaukee was 4-for-12 with RISP and left 11 runners on base.