Rhys Hoskins belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning to rally the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 victory over visiting St. Louis on Saturday night, extending the Cardinals’ losing streak to seven games.
Andrew Kittredge (0-2) relieved with one out in the seventh. William Contreras walked and advanced to third on Jake Bauers’ two-out single. Hoskins then sent a 3-2 pitch 407 feet to center field for his ninth homer.
The Cardinals threatened in the ninth with consecutive two-out singles by Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt, but Trevor Megill got Nolan Arenado to fly to right – notching his fourth save in four chances.
Hoby Milner (1-0) tossed a scoreless seventh for the win and Bryan Hudson followed with a scoreless eighth.
Milwaukee has won eight straight vs. St. Louis, including 6-0 this season, and 11 of the last 12.
Nootbaar put the Cardinals up 2-1 with a bases-loaded single in the fifth off starter Freddy Peralta.
Matt Carpenter, activated off the injured list earlier Saturday after missing 32 games with a right oblique strain, doubled to open. Nolan Gorman walked on a pitch-clock violation. Masyn Winn then reached when Peralta slipped while fielding the sacrifice bunt.
Nootbaar’s drive to the gap in right-center scored two, but Peralta prevented a big inning by striking out Goldschmidt and Arenado.
The Cardinals made it 3-1 in the sixth on Gorman’s two-out RBI double into the right-field corner.
Peralta gave up three runs on eight hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out eight.
The Brewers answered with a run in the bottom half of the sixth. They loaded the bases on a single by Willy Adames and walks to Bauers and Hoskins, chasing starter Kyle Gibson. With one out, JoJo Romero hit Gary Sanchez to force in a run and make it 3-2.
Gibson gave up two runs on three hits and four walks in five-plus innings. He struck out seven.
Milwaukee scored its first run in the third, when Gibson hit Bauers with a pitch with the bases loaded.
–Field Level Media