ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals weren’t able to follow up on their mantra of winning every series as they try to remain relevant in a potential postseason picture. But down 4-1 in the fifth inning to Milwaukee and one of its many All-Star pitchers, Brandon Woodruff, on Thursday night, they seemed headed for a crippling sweep at Busch Stadium that would have left them 13 games out of first place.
But reserve catcher Andrew Knizner, hitting .175, singled to center. Pinch hitter Jose Rondon and Tommy Edman both were retired, but Paul Goldschmidt singled for his second hit and Nolan Arenado singled for his second hit and second run batted in.
Tyler O’Neill struck the big blow with his 21st home run, a 450-foot big fly to center off a Woodruff curveball, and the Cardinals had a one-run lead that was augmented by Lars Nootbaar’s third homer, marking the third time the Cardinals had gone back-to-back in a week’s time.
The Cardinals’ bullpen then locked down the 8-4 win with 4 2/3 perfect innings of relief, starting with recently recalled Junior Fernandez getting a double play on the only batter he faced, Lorenzo Cain. Fernandez threw just two pitches, but the second was among the most important of the game and he was rewarded with his first major league win.
The bullpen brilliance continued with Luis Garcia, knocking out yet another scoreless inning. Lefthander Genesis Cabrera ran his streak of scoreless appearances to 15 with a 1-2-3 seventh. Giovanny Gallegos was equally efficient in the eighth.
Lefthander Jon Lester, who had been increasingly more effective from the first of his three previous starts with the Cardinals, had command issues. He threw only 46 strikes out of 89 pitches in 4 1/3 innings and didn’t strike out anybody while walking three and hitting one.
Two of those free bases came in the fourth, and the Brewers helped turn those into four runs, erasing an early 1-0 Cardinals lead.
Lester hit Avisail Garcia and, with one out, walked Luis Urias. Manny Pina doubled past a diving Arenado at third for one run. With two out, former Cardinal Kolten Wong guided a single past third base for two more runs. Wong came all the way home on Willy Adames’ double left as shortstop Paul DeJong’s relay throw home was high.
It is possible that Lester was affected by a shot he took in the first inning.
Lester, who was the target of many balls hit up the middle in his previous start in Kansas City, took a Christian Yelich smash off his right leg in the first. Lester went down on the mound and stayed there for several moments before continuing. With runners at first and third and two out, he got Garcia, who smacked two homers the night before, to ground out.
Edman then slashed his 31st double to start the Cardinals’ first, and he scored the first run as Arenado also doubled for the 31st time. Woodruff walked O’Neill before retiring Nootbaar on a foul fly and DeJong on a grounder to second baseman Wong.
Lester pitched out of two-on trouble in the second when he induced Wong to ground to short for the final out of the inning.
Goldschmidt got the Cardinals’ third double in three innings when he sent a grounder into the left-field corner with one out in the third. But Woodruff escaped by getting Arenado and O’Neill on grounders to third.
After the Cardinals had taken the lead in the fifth, Edman doubled for the second time in the sixth, chasing home pinch hitter Austin Dean, who had drawn a walk from lefthander Brent Suter.
There were many more walks — three in a row — in the seventh by the underbelly of the Brewers’ bullpen, which was not nearly as effective as it had been the night before. Harrison’s Bader bases-loaded walk pass it 8-4.
And so, the Cardinals now are 11 games behind Milwaukee but much closer to Cincinnati (2 1/2 games) and San Diego, which it trails by 3 1/2 in the second wild-card derby. That clearly is the Cardinals’ best chance to make anything out of this season.
The Cardinals have six more games with the Reds on a home-and-home basis and three here with the Padres.
