Three runs in the first inning hold up
The Milwaukee Brewers’ struggling offense broke out for merely one inning Tuesday night but the pitchers made it stand up for a much-needed victory.
Scoring three runs in the first inning and sitting on that rally for the entire game, the Brewers hung on for a 3-2 victory over St. Louis at Miller Park.
It was only the fourth win in the last 15 games for the Brewers, who remained 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Right-hander Jimmy Nelson started for the Brewers and turned in another solid outing, allowing only six hits and two runs over six innings with seven strikeouts. It was his team-leading 13th quality start.
The Brewers opened the game in a horrendous team slump, particularly with runners in scoring position. They had been 0 for 31 in those situations, a franchise record for futility.
The Brewers immediately were put in a position to end that drought when Eric Sogard led off the bottom of the first with a walk off Carlos Martinez and Eric Thames doubled him to third. Ryan Braun was unable to snap it but did deliver a run-scoring grounder to second that moved Thames to third.
With the infield in, Travis Shaw struck out on a high fastball. But the national nightmare finally ended at 0-for-33 when
Domingo Santana bounced a single up the middle to score Thames. Santana had been the last Brewers hitter to get a hit with a runner in scoring position, a RBI single exactly a week earlier.
Manny Piña followed with a double to left-center, scoring Santana from first for a 3-0 lead. At that point, the Brewers had scored more runs than in any of their previous four games.
The strong arm of shortstop Orlando Arcia and grittiness of Piña helped the Brewers keep the Cardinals off the board in the third. Kolten Wong tried to score from first on Randal Grichuk’s double to left-center but Arcia’s relay was in time to Pina, who put the tag on Wong while keeping him from getting to the plate.
But the Cardinals kept putting pressure on Nelson. Yadier Molina lined a RBI single to right with two down in the fourth, and Tommy Pham did likewise in the fifth, making it a one-run game.
Nelson pitched a perfect sixth, then turned it over to his bullpen. Jacob Barnes pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, and after Josh Hader walked Matt Carpenter to open the eighth, newcomer Anthony Swarzak came on to strike out the next three hitters.
That left it to closer Corey Knebel, who benefited from a couple of line-outs in the ninth to record his 19th save. BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
RHP Chase Anderson, who has been on the DL since June 29 with a left oblique strain, fared well in a 50-pitch bullpen session and next will face hitters in simulated action Friday. He should be ready soon after for a minor-league rehab assignment and the Brewers hope to have him back in less than three weeks.
“I felt good,” Anderson said. “Everything feels good; no setbacks.”
As might be expected, manager Craig Counsell shrugged off the fact that the Brewers made no major trades before the Monday deadline. Instead, they dealt for relievers Anthony Swarzak and Jeremy Jeffress, and stopped there.
“This is the group that got to 11 games above .500 at the all-star break,” Counsell said. “There’s no reason why we can’t do it again. I’m perfectly happy with what we’ve got. This is a group that through 100 games was playing pretty darn good. We’ve got to get back to that mode. It’s not like this group hasn’t done it.”
STAT SHEET
LHP Brent Suter was the Brewers’ player of the month for July and 3B Travis Shaw won the player of the month for the third
consecutive time. Suter was 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in five starts and Shaw batted .305 with seven homers and 17 RBI.
Barnes was in desperate need of a scoreless inning. He had allowed runs in four consecutive appearances, getting tagged for nine hits and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings.
TAKEAWAY
The Brewers won thanks to their pitching but the offense has been stuck in neutral since the all-star break, in large part because the home runs have dried up for the most part. In 17 games since the all-star break, they have scored three or fewer runs an incredible 13 times. If the Brewers want to hang in the playoff race, they have to start producing as they did in the first half. RECORD
This year: 55-52 (29-26 home; 26-26 away)
Last year: 47-57 ATTENDANCE Tuesday: 30,150 2017 total: 1,697,369 (30,310 avg.)
Last year: 1,643,040 (29,340 avg.) NEXT GAME
Wednesday: Brewers vs. Cardinals, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Brent Suter (2-1, 2.40) vs. St. Louis Luke Weaver (0-1, 4.50). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: 620-AM.