Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) – Matt Holliday belted a three-run homer and
the St. Louis Cardinals overcame an injury to Adam Wainwright to record a 5-3
win over the reeling Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
Wainwright was forced to exit after hurting his left ankle while popping up
during an at-bat in the fifth inning. Matt Belisle (1-0) was credited with the
victory after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief.
Kolten Wong added an RBI triple and Matt Carpenter went 2-for-5 to extend his
hitting streak to 12 games and help St. Louis win for the ninth time in 10
outings.
The Brewers, on the other hand, continue to head in the opposite direction.
Saturday’s setback was the club’s ninth in 10 games and dropped their season
record to an MLB-worst 3-15.
Aramis Ramirez finished 3-for-4 with a two-run double in Milwaukee’s latest
defeat, with Jean Segura also collecting three hits along with a run scored.
Wily Peralta (0-3) was saddled with the loss despite allowing two runs over
six innings.
Wainwright faced the minimum through his four innings of work. Though the
Brewers put the leadoff man aboard in three of those frames on two singles and
an Adam Lind double, all were erased on double plays turned by the St. Louis
defense.
Peralta was solid as well over much of his stint, but ran into some trouble in
the second. A leadoff walk to Mark Reynolds was followed by Wong’s smash to
deep center field that turned into a two-run play after Segura’s relay throw
on the triple skipped past Ramirez and enabled Wong to score.
Mitch Harris, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy called up by the Cardinals
earlier in the week, replaced Wainwright in the fifth and got into a jam an
inning later. The Navy Lieutenant walked pinch-hitter Elian Herrera
Milwaukee’s first threat against the Cardinal bullpen came in the sixth, when
Harris walked pinch-hitter Elian Herrera and gave up a single to Gerardo Parra
that put two on with one out.
Belisle protected the two-run advantage, however, by coming up with back-to-
back strikeouts of Ryan Braun and Lind, and the Cardinals extended the lead in
the seventh.
Carpenter doubled off Will Smith and Jason Heyward drew a walk to place two
aboard for Holliday, who hammered new reliever Jeremy Jeffress’ first pitch
over the wall in right center for a 5-0 margin.
Milwaukee, which dropped a 3-0 decision in Friday’s opener, finally scored its
first runs of the series with an eighth-inning rally. Segura doubled against
Kevin Siegrist, Lind knocked him home with a two-out single and Seth Maness
hit Khris Davis with a pitch before Ramirez socked a bases-loaded double that
trimmed the lead to two.
Maness prevented further damage by getting Hector Gomez to ground out and
strand two, then pitched a spotless ninth to earn the save.
Game Notes
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was ejected in the seventh inning following an
argument with home plate umpire Dale Scott during a pitching change … Harris
became the first Naval Academy grad to appear in an MLB game since Nemo Gaines
pitched for the Washington Senators in 1921 … Cardinals catcher Yadier
Molina did not play after leaving Friday’s opener when taking a foul ball off
his knee … Jhonny Peralta went 2-for-4 for St. Louis and has hit safely in
all 10 of the team’s road games, the longest such streak by a Cardinal since
an 18-game run by Albert Pujols in 2008 … The Brewers fell to 0-12 on the
season when allowing the game’s first run.
