Brewers win sixth straight, down struggling Cardinals, 4-0

Box Score

The Brewers took down their division rivals on Friday night, defeating the struggling St. Louis Cardinals by a final of 4-0 at American Family Field.

Despite the offense totaling just four runs, their fewest since Saturday’s victory over the Cubs, the Brewers didn’t need much run support as Brandon Woodruff looked strong on the mound, improving his season ERA to 0.79 through two starts.

After the Brewers built a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a sac fly by Rowdy Tellez and an RBI single by Garrett Mitchell, Woodruff found himself in trouble in the fourth, with runners at first and second with no outs and the Cardinals best hitters in Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado due up.

After striking out Goldschmidt for the first out of the inning, he allowed a single by Arenado to load up the bases with just one out. Woodruff then got himself out of the inning by inducing a 6-4-3 double play from Willson Contreras, brother of the Brewers’ William Contreras.

Woodruff got a groundout to start the sixth and then walked Alec Burleson, leading Craig Counsell to pull him for Joel Payamps. Payamps struck out Goldschmidt but then loaded the bases on a single from Arenado and a walk to Contreras. He got out of the jam on a groundout from Tyler O’Neill, keeping the score at 2-0.

The Brewers padded their lead in the bottom half of the inning, as Brian Anderson, Brice Turang, and Joey Wiemer hit consecutive singles to load the bases with one out. Christian Yelich got Anderson home on a groundout, extending the lead to 3-0.

Willy Adames went on to hit his first homer of the season in the bottom of the seventh, making it 4-0, which held through the final two innings.

Adames and Mitchell each had two hits in the victory, while Jesse Winker, William Contreras, Anderson, Turang, and Wiemer had a hit apiece. Yelich went 0-for-3 but reached twice via walks.

On the mound, Woodruff went 5 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out four. Payamps, Gus Varland, Hoby Milner, Matt Bush, and Bryse Wilson combined for the final 3 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing just one hit and three walks total compared to four strikeouts.

Milwaukee improves to 6-1 to open the season, while St. Louis falls to 2-5. The two teams return to action on Saturday evening as Eric Lauer battles Jordan Montgomery. First pitch is at 6:10 p.m. CT on Bally Sports Wisconsin.