W: Kyle McClellan (8-6)
L: Marco Estrada (2-7)
S: Octavio Dotel (2)
HR: Yuniesky Betancourt (8), Matt Holliday (16), Jaime Garcia (1)
MVP: Yuniesky Betancourt (+.155)
LVP: Shaun Marcum (-.323)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
This was a tough way to end the winning streak, but at least the Brewers still have a chance to win the series tomorrow.
After going 14 games without allowing more than four runs, Shaun Marcum and the Brewers melted down tonight and allowed five in one inning (the fourth). Three of those runs came on Jaime Garcia's first career home run. Marcum managed to finish six innings but allowed six runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out just two.
Fortunately, the Brewer bats were able to pick him up. They scored three runs in the first two innings and four more in the fifth, led by Yuniesky Betancourt's three run shot to give them a brief 7-6 lead. If you had spent the entire month of March thinking of unlikely things that could happen this season, you probably still wouldn't have thought of a Yuniesky Betancourt curtain call.
The Brewers almost gave it all away in the seventh, as the first three Cardinals reached base against Takashi Saito. The third was Albert Pujols, who was hit on the wrist by a pitch and rolled around on the ground for a bit, but stayed in the game. The Cardinals tied the game on a double play, but that was all they got.
Then, predictably, things got chippy. Cardinals reliever Jason Motte needed two tries to successfully hit Ryan Braun in the back leading off the seventh, likely earning both he and Tony La Russa some time on the suspended list. The Brewers loaded the bases in the inning but failed to score. In fact, both teams had multiple opportunities but failed to score for the remainder of regulation, sending the game to extra innings. The Cardinals dug themselves a deeper hole in the tenth when Yadier Molina struck out, was ejected and bumped the umpire several times.
The Cardinals finally broke the tie in the eleventh, when a Lance Berkman bloop to left drove home Matt Holliday with the eventual game-winning run.
The Brewers scored more than six runs tonight for the first time since the Arizona series, 12 games ago.