Saturday’s Game Report: Brewers 9, Cardinals 8 (10 innings)
By Rob Rains
The bullpen has been one of the strengths of the Cardinals the second half of the season but that wasn’t the case on Saturday night.
After leading the Brewers 6-1 at one point, the Cardinals gave up two runs in the eighth, three runs in the ninth that wiped out a 7-4 lead and two runs in the 10th that gave the Brewers the walk-off win in Milwaukee.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Cardinals on their current road trip.
Sonny Gray left the game with the lead in the sixth, but after Matt Svanson worked two scoreless innings, JoJo Romero gave up the two runs in the eighth, Riley O’Brien surrendered the tying runs in the ninth without getting an out, and Kyle Leahy got out of that inning but then gave up the tying and winning runs in the 10th.
It was the fourth time the Cardinals lost a game this season that they led going to the ninth inning. They are now 67-4 in those games.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Ivan Herrera and Brendan Donovan homered for the Cardinals … Herrera and Thomas Saggese each had three hits … Nolan Gorman struck out three times … In the 10th the Cardinals had the bases loaded with nobody out but scored their only run on a double play grounder … The Cardinals were 3-of-16 with a runner in scoring position and in their last three games they are a combined 7-of-48 with a runner on second or third. They left 11 runners on base.
On the mound: Gray allowed a second run in the sixth when a runner Svanson inherited from Gray scored … Romero gave up one hit and walked three in the eighth inning before O’Brien, trying to protect the three-run lead, hit the first two batters he faced in the ninth, then gave up a double and single before coming out of the game. Leahy allowed the tying run to score on a single by William Contreras … In the 10th, Caleb Durbin doubled to drive in the tying run, and he scored the winning run on a single by Andruw Monasterio.
Key stat: The loss dropped the Cardinals to five games under .500 at 72-77. They will need to go 9-4 in their final 13 games of the season to avoid their second losing record in the last three years. The last time that happened was 1997 to 1999.
Worth noting: A day after he was optioned to Memphis when Donovan came off the injured list, Jose Fermin was back with the Cardinals on Saturday. Masyn Winn was placed on the IL because of his sore right knee, ending his season. Winn is scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn ligament in the coming days … In his first start for Double A Springfield on Saturday night, Liam Doyle worked two scoreless innings, allowing two hits with no walks while striking out three, throwing 30 pitches … Nolan Arenado played third base for the second consecutive game for Springfield and was hitless in three at-bats. He is 1-of-13 in his four rehab games.
Up next: Miles Mikolas will get the start in the final game of the series and road trip on Sunday as the Cardinals try to avoid being swept by the Brewers and going winless on the six-game trip.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
