Cardinals fall to Brewers to end 17-game win streak
St. Louis manager Mike Shildt was philosophical after the Cardinals’ teamrecord 17-game winning streak came to an end.
“That was a cool run,” he said. “Let’s start another one.”
Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer that backed Adrian Houser (10-6) and led the Milwaukee Brewers over the Cardinals 4-0 Wednesday in St. Louis.
St. Louis was given a standing ovation after the defeat by the crowd of 35,283. The streak, the longest in the major leagues since Cleveland won 22 straight in 2017, lifted the Cardinals into next week’s NL wild-card game against the Dodgers or Giants.
The Cardinals were 7169 after losing to Cincinnati 6-4 on Sept. 10, their previous defeat. St. Louis is 21-7 in September, tying the 1930 and 1942 Cardinals for most wins in the month.
“This shows that we’re capable of anything,” St. Louis pitcher Andrew Miller said. “Confidence is everything in this game. The guys in this clubhouse figure that no matter who we play, we can go and beat anybody, beat any pitcher.”
Shildt said the key to the run was that, “everybody was laying it out there every single opportunity they got. That’s my favorite part of it.”
Vogelbach enjoyed putting an end to the streak, which was the longest September run since the Chicago Cubs won 21 in a row from Sept. 4-27, 1935.
“Going out there and being able to put a stop to their winning streak makes you feel pretty good,” Vogelbach said.
A night after clinching a postseason berth, the Cardinals did not start regulars Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill and Tommy Edman. BLUE JAYS 6, YANKEES 5 >> Bo Bichette homered twice, including a tiebreaking home run off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted the Blue Jays over the Yankees in Toronto, tightened
the AL wild-card race and ended New York’s sevengame winning streak.
Marcus Semien hit a goahead, two-run homer in the first off a faltering Gerrit Cole, setting a big league record with his 44th home run of the season as a second baseman. Semien topped the 43 by Davey Johnson for for Atlanta in 1973.
George Springer doubled on Cole’s first pitch and Semien homered on Cole’s sixth. Springer hit an RBI single in the second and Bichette’s solo homer in the third built a 4-0 lead against Cole, who allowed his first six hits on fastballs.
With the score 5-all, Bichette led off the eighth against Clay Holmes (8-4) with his 28th home run, an opposite-field drive that cleared the scoreboard in right-center.
GIANTS 1, DIAMONDBACKS 0 >> Alex Wood and three relievers combined for a four-hitter for host San Francisco, Kris Bryant hit a sacrifice fly, and the Giants reached 104 wins for the first time since 1905.
Manager Gabe Kapler’s
ballclub joined the 1945-46 Boston Red Sox as the only two teams to follow a losing season with 104 wins. With four games left, the Giants have a chance to break the franchise wins record of 106 set by the 1904 New York Giants.
San Francisco opened a 21/2-game lead in the NL West over the second-place Dodgers, who trailed San Diego in a late game. RAYS 7, ASTROS 0 >> Drew Rasmussen and three relievers combined for a threehitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi both homered and visiting Tampa Bay coasted past Houston, giving it the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs. The Astros lost for the fifth time in six games on a night they could have clinched their fourth AL West title in five seasons with a win. RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 0 >> J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi (11-9), and visiting Boston broke a four-game skid and bolstered its playoff hopes. Hunter Renfroe also went deep for the Red
Sox, who failed to score three runs in any game during their losing streak.
BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 2 >> Max Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and host Atlanta beat Philadelphia to move within one victory of a fourth straight NL East title. The Braves have won nine of 11 and reduced their magic number to one. Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 starts.
ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 5 >> Trevor Story had four hits in possibly his final appearance at Coors Field with Colorado, which beat Washington. Ryan McMahon added a three-run homer in the Rockies’ home finale, which was interrupted for two hours by rain.
ROYALS 10, INDIANS 5 >> Salvador Perez tied a Royals record with his 48th homer of the season before leaving with a sprained right ankle, and Kansas City went on to beat Cleveland in Kansas city, Mo. Perez, who already broke the big league record for homers by a catcher, leads the majors in home runs and RBIs (121).