The St. Louis Cardinals welcomed the Milwaukee Brewers for the first of a big, four game series at Busch Stadium Thursday night, well rested after a day off, with their veteran pitcher on the hill, hoping to tighten the race in the National League Central Division.
The Crew had other ideas. Milwaukee opened the early season showdown series with a 4-3 victory, pushing them 4 and a half games in front of the second place Cardinals.
There was a lot of action early as Luis Urias greeted Adam Wainwright with a solo home run in the first inning. Tyrone Taylor continued his hot stretch with a two out, RBI single to make it 2-0. Taylor now has 12 RBI’s in the last 8 games. Eric Lauer promptly gave the lead up in the bottom half as St. Louis plated a pair of runs.
Christian Yelich delivered an RBI in the top of the second and Lauer again found himself in trouble but got out of a jam without further damage. Andrew McCutcheon made it 4-2 with an run scoring hit in the 4th. Lauer made it through five innings, allowing the two runs on four hits but St. Louis pulled to within a run when Paul Goldschmidt launched a solo homer against Trevor Gott in the 7th.
Back from several days off due to a family medical leave, Josh Hader closed out the game for his 16th save in as many opportunities although it got dicey when he gave up a hit and a walk but left both runners stranded. Hader told reporters his wife is dealing with pregnancy complications but doctors assured him she’ll be fine as he flew to St. Louis Thursday afternoon.
The Brewers improved to 29-16 on the year while the Cardinals now stand at 24-20. Brandon Woodruff will start game two against Dakota Hudson Friday night. Pre-game coverage begins at 6:40 PM with the first pitch at 7:15 PM on WTAQ.
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