Brewers and Cardinals are evenly matched
The Milwaukee Brewers earned a series split with the St. Louis Cardinals thanks to a 6-4 victory Thursday afternoon at American Family Field.
The start was inauspicious, as four of the first five Cardinals batters reached base and the Brewers booted the ball around leading to a Little League homer featuring two errors, but the bounce back was just as strong.
Tyrone Taylor and Willy Adames homered, starting pitcher Jason Alexander responded well enough after his first-inning woes and Milwaukee got the ball to its three lockdown relievers for the game's final 10 outs.
Here are three takeaways from the day:
Things could not get any more even in the NL Central
If the first half of the season is any indication of what the race for the National League Central title is going to be like, then buckle up.
The Brewers and Cardinals have played three series, each four games. They have all followed the same script. Brewers win, Cardinals win, Cardinals win, Brewers win.
“That tells you how talented we both are,” Brewers shortstop Willy Adames said. “They play hard. They have a really good team and we are always battling with them. It was like that last year, too. They play hard and we play hard, too.
“We are always going to battle with them. Hopefully we can take the division, though.”
Through those 12 games, the season series is tied at six games apiece. Seven games have been decided by two runs or fewer.
Fittingly, Milwaukee and St. Louis are also knotted in first place at 40-32.
“It's strange, a little bit,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “I think it's reflected in the 12 games that we've played that we're pretty evenly matched. It's gonna be tight all the way.”
The run differential over the 12 games is close as well; the advantage belongs to the Cardinals at plus-four.
The teams are constructed a bit differently, with the Cardinals a strong defensive team featuring a fierce middleorder duo of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt and the Brewers more oriented toward top-end pitching when healthy and a deep but more middle-ofthe-pack lineup. But both showed off their dynamic bullpens during the series.
“Hopefully we can pull away here for a little bit, but they're a good team over there and we're a good team,” Brewers reliever Brad Boxberger said. “I think it's gonna be kind of neck and neck the whole way.”
The final two games of the series were microcosms of how even the teams are. Either game truly could have bounced in either team's direction. With the way that both teams' bullpens are, the middle innings become all the more critical. Grab a lead and get the game to the big arms, otherwise good luck.
“I think good baseball teams generally have that formula and have guys who can finish games,” Counsell said. “Our guys did a great job.”
Alexander’s sixth-inning conundrum
Counsell was faced with a dilemma entering the sixth inning.
With the Brewers ahead, 5-3, he could leave Alexander in to face the heart of the Cardinals order for the third time or he could turn to the bullpen.
The downside to the former was obvious: Alexander was staring down Goldschmidt, Arenado and Brendan Donovan, and opponents had hit .522 in 27 plate appearances against Alexander the third trip through the order coming in.
But, reading between the lines from Counsell postgame, the Brewers were lacking some availability in their middle relief corps. Miguel Sanchez had thrown 12⁄3 innings Tuesday, and on Wednesday night Hoby Milner threw 28 pitches and Trevor Kelley went two innings.
Boxberger, Devin Williams and Josh Hader were all lined up, but they have been almost entirely one-inning relievers over the last two seasons.
So the Brewers sent Alexander back out for the sixth and he immediately ran into trouble, walking Goldschmidt and giving up a booming double to Arenado. He recovered to strike out Donovan and retire Juan Yepez on a deep sacrifice fly to left that cut the lead to 5-4.
Boxberger came in and struck out Dylan Carlson to end the inning, stranding the tying run at second.
“It's not an easy matchup for the next guy, either, so we tried to get (Alexander) through it,” Counsell said. “I thought he made some really good pitches to Goldschmidt but he didn't get some calls. Those guys, it's tough getting through those two guys. They're swinging the bat well, they're dangerous. Whoever's on the mound, it's tough getting through them.”
The Brewers open a three-game interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays. Please visit JSOnline.com/sports for complete coverage of Friday night’s series opener.
Alexander's fifth career start was a bit of a mixed bag. He struck out a career-high five and recorded career lows with two walks and six hits allowed but the Cardinals also rounded up plenty of good swings against him.
Nine balls put in play by St. Louis were hit 95 mph or harder off the bat, including Lars Nootbaar's solo homer in the fifth. Coming into the start, Alexander had allowed a plethora of base runners but minimal damage by giving up only three doubles and no homers in 221⁄3 innings. The Cardinals hit three doubles, including the one by Goldschmidt in the first that led to two runs with a pair of Brewers throwing errors, and the Nootbaar homer.
Despite allowing a career-high four runs, Alexander again provided the Brewers with length and gave the team a chance to win.
“I'm happy with everything I've been able to show,” Alexander said. “Even after all these outings, I walk away thinking there's so many things I could have done better. I'm just constantly trying to improve.”
Taylor has been serviceable as an everyday player
When Hunter Renfroe went down with a hamstring injury May 23 in San Diego, Taylor was elevated into an everyday role in the outfield.
Now one month to the date since that injury, Lorenzo Cain has been designated for assignment and Taylor once again given a spot in the lineup just about every game.
He has cooled off after a red-hot stretch in late May and entered Thursday 10 for his last 61 with one homer and a .482 OPS.
That lone homer, though, was a critical one as it provided the only runs in Monday's 2-0 win over the Cardinals.
In the series finale, Taylor had just one hit but again it was a critical one. With the Brewers just 2 for 25 with runners in scoring position in the series — with the second hit coming moments before but resulting in a runner thrown out at home plate — Taylor launched a pitch from Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson in the air to left. Yepez looked like he had a bead on it until the ball kept sailing and sailing and eventually landed in the Brewers bullpen for a three-run homer.
“I thought he hit it good,” Counsell said. “He didn't crush it, but he hit it right. Those are the balls that have the opportunity to keep going.”
There was an element of relentlessness from the Brewers after falling behind in the first. Christian Yelich doubled and scored in the first, Taylor socked his three-run homer and Adames added a solo shot to complete the damage against Hudson. Jace Peterson's sacrifice fly in the eighth added an insurance run, as well.
“We got a lot of runners on today,”
Counsell said. “Just team-wise, the game did not start out well. We give up two in the first, we leave the bases loaded in the third after no outs. We get a runner thrown out at the plate.
“We stuck to it today. The tack-on runs from Willy and good at-bats in the eighth were important. You have to do everything right in these games to beat good teams. We did some things wrong today but we kept at it and did enough things right the last six innings to get a W.”