Brewers win to keep playoff hopes alive
Brandon Woodruff allowed two hits in eight innings and the Milwaukee Brewers kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Cardinals 3- 0 on Saturday night in St. Louis.
Ryan Braun and Daniel Vogelbach hit backto-back home runs in the fourth, the third time the Brewers have hit consecutive homers this season.
Woodruff (3- 5) retired 19 straight after pitching around leadoff hits in the first and second innings as Milwaukee (29-30) moved within a game of St. Louis (29-28). Both teams are among four NL clubs vying for two open postseason spots. NL Central rival Cincinnati (30-28 entering Saturday) clinched a playoff berth on Friday.
Woodruff struck out 10 and walked one as he beat the Cardinals for the second time this season. He threw a season-high 108 pitches, 73 for strikes.
Josh Hader pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 15 tries.
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (5-3) retired the first seven batters he faced before wriggling out of a two-on, one- out jam in the third.
BETTS HIT BY PITCH, LEAVES GAME >> Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts left Saturday night’s game after being hit by a pitch. Betts was plunked in the left hip by Angels righthander Julio Teheran leading off the first inning at Dodger Stadium.
Betts stayed in and scored the first run after being forced in with the bases loaded on a walk by Teheran. Betts was limping in the dugout. He was replaced by Kiké Hernández in right field to start the second.
ASTROS COACH HAS MULTIPLE MYELOMA >> Houston Astros third base coach Gary Pettis has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and will miss the rest of the 2020 season. The team announcement came before Saturday night’s road game against the Texas Rangers.
Pettis, 62, is expected to make a full recovery from this cancer of plasma cells. He most recently coached third base in a game on Sept. 15 before being sidelined with hip discomfort.
WHITE SOX PITCHER SUSPENDED >> Major League Baseball suspended Chicago White Sox reliever Jimmy Cordero for three games Saturday and fined him an undisclosed amount for hitting the Cubs’ Willson Contreras with a pitch.
Manager Rick Renteria was suspended for one game, and he and pitching coach Don Cooper were also fined. Renteria, who served his suspension on Saturday, expected Cordero to appeal his punishment.