Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Brewers 0
By Rob Rains
A milestone homer from Nolan Arenado, another blast from rookie Jordan Walker and the best start of the year for the Cardinals from Jordan Montgomery added up to a win over the Brewers Saturday night in Milwaukee.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak.
Arenado hit the 300th homer of his career, a two-run shot in the third inning, and Walker added his second homer in the first eight games of his career, also a two-run shot, later in the same inning.
Montgomery allowed just three hits and struck out nine over seven innings.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Arenado’s sacrifice fly and a single by Willson Contreras gave the Cardinals a quick 2-0 lead in the first, following singles by their first two batters, Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson. It was the first lead for the Cardinals since last Sunday … Paul Goldschmidt doubled in front of Arenado’s homer in the third and Walker’s homer capped the four-run inning, matching the Cardinals’ biggest inning of the season … Every Cardinal had at least one hit, with Edman, Goldschmidt and Walker each collecting two of the team’s 12 hits, as they employed an all righthanded hitting lineup.
On the mound: Two of the Brewers’ three hits off Montgomery came in the third, when a walk loaded the bases with two outs but he was able to retire Christian Yelich on a grounder to get out of the jam … The only other hit allowed by Montgomery was a two-out single by Willson Contreras in the sixth … Zack Thompson also had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, allowing two hits and a walk with two outs before striking out Luke Voit … Drew VerHagen finished off the shutout with a 1-2-3 ninth inning as the Cardinals’ ended a six-game winning streak by the Brewers.
Key stat: Coming into the game, the Cardinals’ starters combined had thrown five clean innings out of their 34 innings in the first seven games of the season, two of those from Montgomery in his first start. Against the Brewers, Montgomery had four perfect innings.
Worth noting: Walker now has at least one hit in all eight games of his career, hitting .355. The only other player in major-league history since 1913, age 20 or younger, with that long of a streak was Ted Williams, who got a hit in the first nine games of his career in 1939 … Packy Naughton was placed on the injured list on Saturday after having to leave Friday night’s game with forearm tightness. He returned to St. Louis for an MRI and more should be known about his status on Sunday. Genesis Cabrera was recalled from Memphis.
Looking ahead: Jake Woodford will make his second start of the season on Sunday in the finale of the series against the Brewers.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
