Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals 3, Brewers 2
By Rob Rains
About 18 hours after JoJo Romero and Riley O’Brien combined to retire only three of the 11 hitters they faced, the two relievers got another chance for the Cardinals on Sunday.
This time it worked out much better for both, and for the Cardinals.
Romero worked the eighth inning and O’ Brien the ninth, protecting a one-run lead and completing a win over the Brewers in Milwaukee.
The win snapped the Cardinals’ five-game losing streak and let them avoid going winless on the six-game trip.
On Saturday night, Romero allowed two runs and O’Brien three in the same two innings as the Cardinals blew a lead en route a 10th-inning walk-off loss.
On Sunday, Romero worked around a one-out infield single and O’Brien got a game-ending strikeout after issuing a two-out walk.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the second inning. Thomas Saggese led off with a single, advanced to third on a double by Nolan Gorman and scored on Pedro Pages’ sacrifice fly. Jose Fermin and Nathan Church added RBI singles … They were held to two hits the rest of the game, an infield single by Ivan Herrera in the fifth and a leadoff single by Fermin in the seventh … They loaded the bases on a hit batter and two walks with two outs in the ninth but Herrera struck out for the third time to keep it a one-run game.
On the mound: Miles Mikolas worked the first five innings, allowing a pair of solo home runs. He did not issue a walk and struck out five before turning the one-run lead over to the bullpen … John King allowed two singles in the sixth before Jorge Alcala got out of the inning, and he then pitched around a leadoff walk in the seventh … O’Brien earned his fourth save.
Key stat: It was only the second win for the Cardinals in their last eight games against the division-leading Brewers, who have outscored the Cardinals 43-26 in those eight games.
Worth noting: Even though he had only one hit in 13 at-bats during four rehab games for Double A Springfield, Nolan Arenado is expected to be activated from the injured list when the Cardinals return home on Monday … Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras did not play in Sunday’s game … Joshua Baez hit his 20th home run of the season on Sunday for Springfield, his 16th at Double A and his third consecutive game with a home run … Chin-Wei Lin struck out nine in four scoreless innings in Sunday’s game, the final game of the regular season. Springfield finished the regular season with a franchise-record 88-50 record … Springfield is the only minor-league team in the organization which advanced to postseason play, beginning on Tuesday night.
Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start on Monday night as the Cardinals begin their final homestand of the season with the first of three games against the Reds.
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