W: Jake Westbrook (11-7)
L: Randy Wolf (11-9)
HR: Westbrook (1)
MVP: Ryan Braun (+.058)
LVP: Randy Wolf (-.363)
Win Expectancy Graph
I'm not sure is the Brewers realize this, but they're at home. In good ol' Miller Park. They're supposed to win.
In his last start, it took Randy Wolf two pitches to give up a home run. We improved a little tonight, as it took him three pitches to give up that first home run, to Rafael Furcal. Unfortunately, he gave up another home run later that inning to His Holiness. Down early, the Crew fired back in the bottom of the first inning when Corey Hart led off the Brewers half of the inning with a home run, bring the score to 2-1, advantage Cardinals.
The Crew almost took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. After Nyjer Morgan reached on an error, Ryan Braun hit a ball that ricocheted off the top of the wall, far away from any outfielder. With the inside-the-parker in sight, Braun tripped in between third and home. The run scored to tie the game, but Braun was tagged out.
That's when things started to get ugly. Randy Wolf began the fourth by hitting the first two batters he faced. The next batter, Yadier Molina, singled to load the bases. After inducing a ground ball and a force out at home, and the pitcher up to bat, it looked like the Crew might be able to get out of the inning with minimal damage. But that didn't happen. Instead, Wolf gave up a grand slam to Cardinal's starting pitcher Jake Westbrook, the first homer of his career. 6-2 Cardinals.
Wolf pitched another inning and then gave way to the bullpen. Marco Estrada allowed another two runs on RBIs to Corey Patterson and Furcal. Chris Narveson and Frankie De La Cruz finished out the game. The offense didn't put up much of a fight after that.
This is only the second time this season that the Crew has lost back-to-back games at Miller Park. Their lead is down to 8.5 games.
If there's a silver lining to this game, it belongs to Taylor Green, who singled in his first ever major league AB. Congrats to him!