W: Zack Greinke (1-0)
L: Jaime Garcia (0-1 NLCS, 0-2 postseason)
S: John Axford (1 NLCS, 2 postseason)
HR: Ryan Braun (1 in NLCS, 2 in postseason), Prince Fielder (1 in NLCS, 2 in postseason), Yuniesky Betancourt (1 in postseason), David Freese (1 in NLCS, 2 in postseason)
MVP: Ryan Braun (+.314)
LVP: Zack Greinke (-.334)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
I'll take one of whatever Zack Greinke's having.
Greinke had a pretty poor day today, allowing six runs on eight hits over six innings, and for much of the day he was in line for the loss after giving up a three run home run to David Freese on a 73 mph curveball over the middle of the plate. He struck out six and walked two.
It's amazing, though, what a six run fifth inning can do for a guy. The first six Brewer batters to the plate in the inning reached, with Prince Fielder and Yuniesky Betancourt hitting home runs to give the Brewers the lead and some much-needed insurance runs.
They needed those insurance runs when the Cardinals started a rally in the seventh: They had runners on first and third with no one out but Takashi Saito got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play and Lance Berkman to pop out to limit the damage to one run. Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford recorded the final six outs without major incident to nail it down.
Four Brewers had two hits in the game today, but Ryan Braun's were easily the biggest: His homer in the first drove in two runs, and his ground rule double in the fifth plated two more. He also drew a ninth inning walk.
These two teams play again tomorrow night at Miller Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 pm.