MILWAUKEE (AP) — Luken Baker singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals won two of three from the NL Central-leading Brewers, with extra-inning victories each of the last two nights. St. Louis won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.
“That was a fun game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There was a lot of moving parts to that one. Both teams played well.”
Milwaukee went 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.
“I guess this is a phase we’re going through,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “A lot of it’s youth. There’s a lot of bright spots at the same time. Just very, very frustrating.”
St. Louis had a runner at third with two outs in the 10th when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was promoted from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, came out of the bullpen to make his first major league appearance since Aug. 8.
Baker came in as a pinch-hitter, got ahead 3-1 in the count and sent a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn. Baker, who has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, has an RBI in each of his last six games.
“As far as the RBIs go, that’s my job, and that’s the ultimate goal, right?” Baker said. “You have to score runs to win games. … The job is to score more than the other team, so the more I can drive runs in, the better.”
With usual closer Ryan Helsley unavailable one night after pitching two innings, Ryan Fernandez worked the 10th to earn his second save in four opportunities. Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to earn his second save in four opportunities.
“(Chourio’s) a high-contact guy, he’s having a good season,” Marmol said. “You look at his last 60 days, he’s thumping. Hoskins has more strikeout in him. Fernandez has more ‘K’ in him. I’ll take my shot.”
Andrew Kittredge (3-4) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of bases-loaded walks from Colin Rea, and the score stayed that way until the Brewers scored single runs in the seventh and eighth.
Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell hit a leadoff triple in the seventh and scored when Joey Ortiz grounded out to third. That was the only run allowed by St. Louis’ Sonny Gray, who struck out seven and gave up four hits and one walk in seven innings.
JoJo Romero took over for Gray in the eighth, and Eric Haase sent the left-hander’s first pitch way over the wall in left center for his fourth homer of the season. Haase’s tying, 438-foot blast marked the first time he’d gone deep since a two-homer game at Minnesota on July 21.
The Brewers nearly took the lead later in the inning.
Brice Turang doubled to left and advanced to third when Chourio grounded out. Romero then was removed in favor of Kittredge.
With the go-ahead run at third, Kittredge struck out pinch-hitter William Contreras, intentionally walked Willy Adames and struck out Mitchell.
The Cardinals pulled ahead early by capitalizing on Rea’s uncharacteristic control problems.
Rea hadn’t walked anybody in four straight starts and had issued just one walk the entire month of August, but he issued bases-loaded walks to Iván Herrera and Lars Nootbaar in the first inning.
The Cardinals did no more damage against Rea in his four-inning stint. Milwaukee’s DL Hall struck out six in four innings of scoreless relief.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: Off Thursday before beginning a three-game home series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday. The scheduled starting pitchers Friday are RHP Erick Fedde (8-8, 3.43) for the Cardinals and RHP Bryce Miller (10-8, 3.30) for the Mariners.
Brewers: Off Thursday before starting a three-game home series with the Colorado Rockies on Friday. RHP Frankie Montas (6-9. 4.70) pitches for the Brewers on Friday. The Rockies haven’t announced a starter.
