Reversal of fortune
Braun homer in 9th inning restores lead
St. Louis — For the second consecutive game, the Milwaukee Brewers let a 1-0 lead slip away in the eighth inning.
This time, they did not let the game slip away as well.
Ryan Braun flipped the momentum with a one-out home run in the ninth inning after St. Louis tied the game in the eighth, allowing the Brewers to escape with a 2-1 nail-biter and split of the four-game series Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
The reversal of fortune eased some of the pain from the previous evening when the Cardinals scored five times in an ugly eighth inning to make away with a 5-1 victory.
“We know how good that team is, this year and every year,” said Braun, who ripped a 3-2 fastball from lefty Kevin Siegrist 429 feet to left-center for his 27th home run of the season.
“They are one of those teams that continues to compete, continues to fight. Obviously, we saw that (Saturday) night. They always find a way to put together good at-bats. So, we just have to find a way to compete as well.”
Brewers starter Zach Davies was the ultimate competitor in this game, turning aside serious threats to take the 1-0 lead into the eighth. St. Louis had runners on second base with no outs twice and Davies refused to give in, keeping the home team off the board.
“Zach pitched beautifully,” said manager Craig Counsell, whose club has won eight of 11. “He was masterful. He was rolling so good, I thought he was our best shot (in the eighth).”
The third time was the charm for the Cardinals in putting a runner on second with no outs when Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right. After failing to get down a bunt, Kolten Wong fouled off three 3-2 pitches before finally moving Carpenter over with a grounder to second.
Counsell then made his move, summoning closer Tyler Thornburg for what he hoped would be a five-out save.
“We had only used Thorny once in the last week, so he was well rested,” Counsell said. “The plan was to push him a little bit today with some extra outs.”
The plan stalled temporarily when Stephen Piscotty hit Thornburg’s first pitch to deep center for a sacrifice fly that tied the game. Unlike the previous evening, when the runs kept coming, Thornburg stopped it there by retiring Matt Adams and setting the stage for Braun’s dramatic homer.
“I wish I could have kept the ball in the infield or whatever,” Thornburg said. “It sucked to give up that run for Davies. But to have them tie up the game and we come back to take the lead was huge. It took away all their momentum.”
Thornburg was charged with a tough blown save for allowing the run to score from third with one out but made up for it with an eye-popping ninth inning. He gave the Cards no chance at a comeback by striking out Randal Grichuk, Brandon Moss and Jedd Gyorko to seal the victory.
“The ninth inning was kind of a ‘wow’ inning for Tyler,” Counsell said. “That was a dominant inning.”
In his own way, Davies was just as dominant, using his assortment of pitches to keep hitters off-balance and guessing throughout the day. By holding the Cardinals to five hits and one run over 7 1/3 innings, he came away with a 1.66 ERA (four earned runs in 21 2/3 innings) in three starts against St. Louis this season.
Davies had little room for error after Chris Carter’s sacrifice fly in the first inning gave the Brewers their only run in six innings off St. Louis starter Luke Weaver.
“Those are the games where you have to battle even harder. You know every pitch counts,” said Davies, who continued the string of solid starts in the six-man rotation. “You can’t get away with some stuff. Those games are fun.”