Friday’s Game Report: Brewers 3, Cardinals 2
By Rob Rains
It was another frustrating night for the Cardinals offense on Friday night in Milwaukee.
One night after getting shut out, and no-hit through the first six innings, the Cardinals got a good start out of Erick Fedde but didn’t do enough on offense to keep them from losing their sixth consecutive game.
The six games marks the Cardinals longest losing streak this season.
They finally snapped a streak of 20 innings without a run, and only eight hits over those 20 innings, with a run in the sixth. They got the tying run on base in the ninth when Victor Scott II singled in a run with two outs and stole second, but he was left stranded when Lars Nootbaar struck out for the fourth time in the game.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The run in the sixth came on back-to-back doubles from Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado … In the ninth, Nolan Gorman doubled with one out and scored on Scott’s two-out single … Burleson had two of the Cardinals’ seven hits … They were 2-of-9 with a runner in scoring position and struck out 11 times.
On the mound: Fedde allowed just one run on two hits through the first five innings but back-to-back hits led to the final two Milwaukee runs in the sixth, both charged to Fedde … Steven Matz got the final two outs in the sixth but allowed one inherited runner to score and then worked a scoreless seventh … Riley O’Brien retired the side in order in the eighth.
Key stat: The top three hitters in the Cardinals lineup – Nootbaar, Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera, were a combined 1-of-24 in the first two games in Milwaukee, the only hit a single by Herrera on Friday night. Nootbaar has just one hit out of the leadoff spot in his last 31 at-bats.
Worth noting: Brendan Donovan missed his third consecutive game because of his sore toe. The Cardinals are hoping that Donovan can play at some point over the weekend and they are trying to hold off placing him on the injured list because that would force him to miss most of the games next week … In the second game of his rehab assignment with Memphis, Jordan Walker was 3-of-4 with three RBIs on Friday night … In his rehab start for Peoria, Tink Hence allowed two hits and two runs over 3 2/3 innings but also issued three walks with only one strikeout during his 64-pitch outing.
Up next: Andre Pallante will get the start on Saturday as the Cardinals try to snap the six-game losing streak. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m.
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