It was another doubleheader for the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday at Miller Park, and game one featured Brandon Woodruff against Adam Wainwright. The Brewers jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning when Christian Yelich singled with one out, then came home on Keston Hiura’s two-run bomb. His 13th homer of the year made it 2-0 in favor of Milwaukee.
The St. Louis offense just kept chipping in this one, however. Tyler O’Neill hit a solo homer in the top of the second to cut the lead in half. In the fourth, Paul Goldschmidt led off with a single, then a double from Brad Miller moved the runners up to second and third. Once again O’Neill delivered, this time with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2-2.
The Cardinals pushed ahead in the fifth. Harrison Bader reached on an error by Jace Peterson, then scored on a one-out double by Tommy Edman. St. Louis added one more insurance run in the sixth on a solo blast by Miller, making it 4-2.
Milwaukee’s offense could not muster any rallies against Wainwright, managing only two hits and a walk after the first inning. Both pitchers went the distance in this one — with Woodruff throwing Milwaukee’s first complete game since 2017 — but the Cardinals came out on top by a score of 4-2.
The Cardinals sent rookie Johan Oviedo to the mound for game two, while the Brewers countered with a bullpen game led by Brent Suter. Once again, Milwaukee jumped out ahead in the first frame. Avisail Garcia was hit by a pitch leading off, then Christian Yelich walked. That brought Ryan Braun to the plate, and he socked a three-run dinger to left-center. It was a milestone homer for Braun — #350 of his storied MLB career.
3⃣5⃣0⃣ #RyanBraunForever I #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/GzCcpKbJVc
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 17, 2020
The Brewers weren’t done in the first inning, as Hiura walked after Braun’s blast, moved up to second on a passed ball, then to third on a grounder by Dan Vogelbach. That allowed Jedd Gyorko to loft a sacrifice fly to left, and when Hiura crossed the plate it made it a 4-0.
Milwaukee pitching dominated in this game. Suter went three scoreless frames while allowing only two hits and two walks, then was relieved by Freddy Peralta. He worked a pair of perfect innings, punching out three. Devin Williams threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 0.43, and Eric Yardley tossed the final frame going 1-2-3.
Milwaukee added two final runs in the sixth inning, when Orlando Arcia singled to lead off then came around to score on Jacob Nottingham’s third home run of the year. Nottingham, pressed into greater action when Manny Pina got hurt, now has a .756 OPS on the year.
Milwaukee’s game two victory split the doubleheader and placed their record at 23-26 heading into the Thursday off-day. The Brewers are one game back of both the Cardinals and Reds for second place in the NL Central — remember, the top two teams from each division will make the expanded postseason this year. The Brewers will resume play on Friday, beginning a three-game series at Miller Park against the Kansas City Royals.