Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers may not catch the St. Louis Cardinals and repeat as NL Central Division champs but they put together a solid effort in the 8-4 victory in the first of a two game series at Busch Stadium Tuesday night. In what was a planned bullpen game with a starting rotation thinned by injury, the calls to the pen started sooner than expected as starter Matt Bush lasted just 15 pitches before leaving in the first inning with groin tightness. Milwaukee gave Bush a 2-0 lead in their first at bat, only to see the Cardinals answer with three runs. Peter Strzelecki’s first pitch was drilled to the wall by Nolan Arenado putting St. Louis on top. Milwaukee recaptured the lead with two in the second but Luis Perdomo surrendered the game tying run in the bottom half. Andrew McCutcheon’s two run homer in the 5th gave Milwaukee some breathing room, knocking out St. Louis starter Jordan Montgomery who gave up six runs over five innings. The final five pitchers called on by manager Craig Counsell would not give up a hit with only one walk over the final five innings. The victory gets Milwaukee to 76-66 on the year, still a daunting 7 games behind the Cardinals in the division race with 20 games to play. The Brewers didn’t get any help in the wild card race either as Philadelphia beat Miami 2-1 and San Diego shut out Seattle 2-0. Milwaukee remains two games behind the Padres and three and a half behind the Phillies for the final playoff spot. The Brewers will send Corbin Burnes, coming off his 14 strikeout performance last week, against veteran Adam Wainwright in the series finale on Wednesday night. Pre-game coverage begins at 6:10 PM with a 6:40 PM first pitch on WTAQ.
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