MILWAUKEE — Any offense the Cardinals generated Tuesday night for the first 10 innings happened almost strictly in the infield and that generally doesn’t win you many games no matter how well you pitch.
Lefthander Kwang Hyun Kim held the Milwaukee Brewers to one run over 5 1/3 innings and the Cardinals’ bullpen followed suit. But the Cardinals had only four base runners against Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta. One was an infield hit by Tommy Edman off Peralta’s leg. That was the only hit off Peralta in seven innings. The other three runners reached base on a walk, a hit batter and an error by Peralta.
But Harrison Bader’s leadoff single to left in the eighth against St. Louisan Devin Williams and Bader’s legs accounted for the tying run on Dylan Carlson’s sacrifice fly after Bader had tagged up from second and boldly gone to third on an earlier fly out.
Bader’s hit was the only one that left the infield in 10 innings for the Cardinals. But a couple that left the infield in the 11th made a long night’s work worth it for the Cardinals as Paul Goldschmidt smacked a two-run homer, his 14th home run in 39 games at Miller Park/American Family Field, and Tyler O’Neill solved Brad Boxberger for a three-run shot to give the Cardinals a 6-1 win in 11 over the Brewers.
It was the Cardinals’ 98th win against just 68 losses against the Brewers at this facility, making for the best mark in the majors by an opponent against Milwaukee here.
By new rule of 2020, each team starts with a runner at second in extra innings. Edman was there in the 11th and he moved to third as Carlson grounded out. Then Goldschmidt homered, Nolan Arenado doubled and Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch before O’Neill put the game under wraps.
Sixth-inning doubles by Lorenzo Cain and Travis Shaw accounted for the only Brewers run.
The Cardinals and Brewers sailed through three innings without much incident as Kim and Peralta were throwing a potful of strikes.
After Edman’s infield single in the third. Edman stole his fifth base of the season but Peralta made Carlson his fourth strikeout.
Former Cardinals leadoff man Kolten Wong doubled off the left-center-field wall to open the Brewers’ first but was stranded.
In the fourth, the Cardinals’ Arenado, who had seven homers in 17 previous games at Miller Park, narrowly missed his first homer at American Family Field. But, after an umpires’ review, the foul ball call stood and Arenado struck out.
Shaw, who hurt the Cardinals in an April series in St. Louis, doubled to right center with one out in the fourth. But Kim handled Luis Urias and Manny Pina himself, catching a popup and fielding a tapper, respectively.
Peralta, striking out two hitters each in the second, third, fourth and fifth, had notched eight strikeouts by the end of the fifth, still having allowed just the one hit and a walk to Carlson in the first.
Kim, who had an 0.75 earned run average against Milwaukee in two starts this past season, wasn’t striking out as many as Peralta but was just as scoreless.
Pablo Reyes singled with one out in the fifth. Peralta tried to bunt and, as catcher Molina turned to try to make the catch on a foul, the ball glanced off home-plate umpire Tony Randazzo. Peralta ultimately struck out and Paul DeJong saved the inning with a brilliant, diving stab behind second to rob his former his former keystone partner, Wong.
Wong was one of the few hitters having anything close to a successful night until extra innings, having flied deep to right in his second at-bat and singling to center under DeJong’s glove in the seventh.
Kim’s speed played a hand in the Brewers having to rush a play which became an error on Peralta, as the Cardinals’ sixth began. Kim grounded to first baseman Shaw, who flipped to Peralta, dashing over to try to beat Kim to the base. But Peralta dropped the throw.
The Cardinals failed to advance Kim, though, as Edman popped to short, Carlson flied to center and Goldschmidt fouled to Shaw, who made the catch at the lip of the Brewers’ dugout.
Perhaps Kim having to spend time on the bases in the top of the sixth hurt him in the bottom half. Cain doubled to center, and after Tyrone Taylor had fanned, Shaw bounced a Kim slider over the left-center-field wall to score Cain with the game’s first run and only the Brewers’ second off Kim in 17 1/3 innings. This finished Kim for righthander Ryan Helsley.
Helsley escaped further trouble although he walked one hitter and two others, Urias and Jackie Bradley Jr., flied deep to center and lined out to second.
Center fielder Bader was galloping all over the outfield, especially in the ninth when he ran down consecutive deep balls hit by Pina and Bradley Jr., before right fielder Carlson made a sliding catch off Billy McKinney.
