Brewers outhit by Cardinals, but take disappointing 5-1 loss as Milwaukee claims division crown

Box Score

The Brewers left St. Louis with an unfortunate loss in which the Cardinals found some timely hits to seal the game 5-1. Robert Gasser was inconsistent in his return to major league action, but did a relatively good job minimizing the damage until a game-opening home run gave the Cardinals their lead. The Brewers didn’t hold a lead at any point throughout. Despite the loss, Milwaukee gets to celebrate their third consecutive division title since the Cubs lost their game.

For Gasser, his command was spotty at times. He cut inside on batters too often, resulting in bad pitch counts or worse, simply pegging the hitter. He found trouble in just the first inning when he hit Ivan Herrera and walked Alec Burleson back-to-back. He forced two balls into the air to end the inning, but it was a sign of his struggles to come.

The Brewers looked as if they might take a lead when they taxed Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore in the top of the third inning. Blake Perkins and Joey Ortiz led off the inning with back-to-back singles. On a double steal, both runners moved into scoring position, but there was a momentary concern for Perkins after he slid headfirst into the third baseman’s knee. Thankfully, he was okay and remained in the game until he was pinch-hit for in the ninth.

With two runners poised to score, Jackson Chourio struck out to record the first out. Isaac Collins walked then to load the bases, but a strikeout from Isaac Collins and a groundout from Rhys Hoskins extinguished any hope of a rally.

The Brewers would only score when Joey Ortiz tripled in the fifth, the ball sticking in the corner wall to give him the time to advance to third. He would end up scoring on a sac fly from Chourio. But even then, it felt as if the Brewers were leaving opportunities on the table. They had a good grasp on Liberatore’s stuff. Whenever Liberatore resorted to his looping curveball, the Brewers almost universally laid off the pitch. At that point, the Brewers essentially nullified his curveball, but couldn’t execute any lasting offensive rally.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were putting up a large lead on the scoreboard despite barely actually recording any hits. Gasser walked a batter in the third inning and followed by surrendering his only hit of the night, a two-run homer to Ivan Herrera. It’s true that Gasser’s cutter caught way too much of the plate, but it also seems harsh to be punished for only allowing one hit. He finished with a pitching line of three innings (only 45 pitches) with two earned runs on one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts.

The following inning, St. Louis expanded their lead against Milwaukee reliever Erick Fedde. It played out in a similar fashion as Fedde allowed two walks and gave up only one hitting in the inning, but that hit, a double from Jose Fermin, drove home both runs. The Cardinals jumped ahead 4-0 despite having two hits in the game.

The Brewers would get runners on in every inning from that point on, including runners in scoring position in the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings, but couldn’t scrape a run across the plate. The futility of these offensive efforts is especially striking when the Brewers’ hit total of seven is compared to that of St. Louis’ three.

Fedde settled in well after giving up that double to Fermin, retiring his next twelve batters. He walked the leadoff batter, Herrera, in the eighth inning, however, and was responsible for him after Rob Zastryzny came in for relief.

Zastryzny surrendered a single to his first batter and a follow-up sacrifice bunt pushed both runners into scoring position. With that, the Brewers elected to intentionally walk Jordan Walker, loading the bases. Zastryzny bounced back by striking out Nolan Gorman, one of the most prone strikeout hitters in the game, but the Brewers were still in a tough situation.

Milwaukee called on Grant Anderson, but he too couldn’t work a perfectly clean inning. He walked his first batter, sending Herrera home for the Cardinals to go up 5-1. He forced a fly out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Brice Turang entered in the top of the ninth as a pinch-hitter for Perkins, but flew out to center. Another pinch-hitter, this time Jake Bauers, entered for Ortiz. He was hit by a pitch, moving to second on a ground out to the pitcher Riley O’Brien, but another fly out to center from Collins finished the game.

Is this the most important game in the Brewers season? Not really. But it was a dud, in many ways. The offense couldn’t put together a meaningful offensive performance and the pitchers took the blame for what really came down to two hits. The offense went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 runners.

Their quest for the top seed in the National League will be postponed a while longer, but they’re still in good standing. There were still positives. A clean, error-free defensive performance was highlighted by Andruw Monasterio making another stellar defensive play. In the seventh, ranging towards center field, he made a play across his body to record the out at first. And, most importantly from today’s events, the Cubs’ loss in Cincinnati meant the Brewers secured a third straight division title.

Tomorrow, the Brewers head to San Diego for a series against the Padres. That game is set for a first pitch at 8:40 p.m. CDT. It’s one of only three games on across the league with Freddy Peralta facing off against Nick Pivetta.