Lauer gives up a pair of home runs as the Brewers lose to Cardinals, 5-4

Box Score

Milwaukee looked to win game three, after splitting the first two games against the pesky division rival St. Louis Cardinals. Eric Lauer took the mound for the Crew, while longtime Cardinal Adam Wainwright started for St. Louis. The Brewers had some success against Wainwright in their last matchup but simply couldn’t get the offense going enough to keep up with St. Louis’ high-powered lineup.

The Cardinals struck fast and early, with a Paul Goldschmidt two-run home run in the top of the first that scored Carlson. Goldschmidt has had a fantastic season so far and is no doubt in the NL MVP discussion. After the home run, Lauer would relax and get out of the inning only allowing the two runs.

The Brewers answered back in the bottom of the first, as Rowdy Tellez hit a solo home run to put the Crew on the scoreboard. After the offense-heavy first inning, the next two were quiet, with both pitchers dealing in the second and third.

Albert Pujols would add more insurance to the Cardinal lead, as he hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth to increase St. Louis’ advantage to 3-1.

The Brewers would strike back again in the bottom half of the inning, when Andrew McCutchen smashed a solo home run, cutting the lead to one. Milwaukee continued their hitting in the bottom of the fifth, when Yelich hit a double to deep left field, scoring Tyrone Taylor. The Crew would tack on more runs with the help of Andrew McCutchen again, who hit a ground-rule double that scored Yelich from second. With the quick flurry of runs, the Brewers had a 4-3 lead heading into the sixth.

The top of the sixth was not what the Brewers were hoping for, as almost immediately Nolan Arenado hit a two-run home run that flipped the script. The sixth would be Lauer’s last inning, as he was replaced by Hoby Milner who pitched a clean seventh inning. Trevor Kelley would finish the game for the Brewers, as the offense couldn’t get anything meaningful going, and were defeated 5-3. With the win, the Cardinals moved into the sole position of first place in the division. The closing game of the series on Thursday features Jason Alexander against Dakota Hudson.

Thursday’s game starts at 1:10 CDT on Bally Sports Wisconsin and 620 WTMJ.