Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals 4, Brewers 3
By Rob Rains
Michael Siani has quickly developed a reputation with the Cardinals as being an outstanding defensive outfielder.
It was his bat, however, which played a much bigger role on Sunday in helping the Cardinals finally end their seven-game losing streak.
Siani’s double in the seventh inning drove in Brendan Donovan to break a 3-3 tie and send the Cardinals to their first win over the Brewers in seven games this season in the game in Milwaukee. Siani barely missed his first career home run, with the ball bouncing off the top of the wall in right center back onto the field. He was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
It was Siani’s second hit of the day as he extended his career-high hitting streak to eight games.
The Cardinals had tied the game in the sixth, coming back from a 3-0 first-inning deficit.
The win came after manager Oli Marmol and bench coach Daniel Descalso were both ejected by home plate umpire Alan Porter in the third inning.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: After snapping his career-high 0-of-32 streak without a hit on Saturday night, Paul Goldschmidt had two hits, including a fifth-inning home run, his first since April 22 and third of the year. He also drove in the tying run with a single in the sixth. Those were his first RBIs in his last 12 games … Lars Nootbaar drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to force in the first run for the Cardinals, who drew seven walks in the game, none of whom scored a run … Nootbaar’s infield single in the sixth, in front of Goldschmidt’s RBI single, was their first hit with a runner in scoring position and they finished the game 2-of-14 with a man on second or third, stranding 13 runners … Ivan Herrera also had a two-hit day as the Cardinals recorded 11 hits.
On the mound: The Brewers three runs in the first came off Miles Mikolas, who walked two in the inning, including one with the bases loaded. Mikolas had not issued a walk in his previous four starts … After throwing 42 pitches in the first inning, Mikolas settled down and shut out the Brewers over the next five innings while the Cardinals rallied … JoJo Romero, Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Helsley retired nine of the 10 hitters they faced over the final three innings, with Helsley – pitching for the first time in eight days – recording his 12th save.
Key stat: Siani has the most hits of any Cardinal so far in May, (10-of-21), one more than Nolan Arenado and Nootbaar. During his eight-game hitting streak Siani has gone 11-of-23, a .478 average.
Worth noting: Matt Carpenter led off for the first time this season. At 38, he became the oldest player to lead off for the Cardinals since 40-year-old Willie McGee in 1999. Ozzie Smith, at 41, was the oldest player to hit leadoff for the Cardinals when he did it in 1996. Carpenter singled and walked in his five plate appearances … It was the first win of the season on Sunday for the Cardinals and only their second in the final game of a series … Arenado, the only Cardinal to play in the first 39 games of the season, got the day off. He had been 1-of-12 in the first three games of the series.
Looking ahead: Matthew Liberatore will make his second start of the season, filling in for the injured Steven Matz, on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
