Cardinals 5, Brewers 4: Yadier Molina carries too much clout for Cardinals

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina celebrates with left fielder Jose Martinez after hitting his second homer of the night Wednesday, a solo shot in the sixth inning at Miller Park.

A late appearance by the Milwaukee Brewers' offense was encouraging, but it still wasn't enough to beat the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Brewers scored once in the seventh inning and twice more in the eighth to pull within a run, but Trevor Rosenthal closed the game out with a 1-2-3 ninth and Milwaukee dropped a 5-4 decision at Miller Park on Wednesday night.

Yadier Molina homered twice off Brent Suter to help St. Louis build a four-run cushion through six innings and that held up despite a late surge by the Brewers, who for the first time in six games put more than three runs on the board.

"He was good, but Yadier Molina got him," manager Craig Counsell said of Suter. "That was the story of the game. He did a nice job and got some pitches to hit."

Milwaukee collected five of its eight hits in the seventh and eighth, with a pinch-hit homer by Jesús Aguilar in the eighth giving the Brewers life. It came off John Brebbia, who surrendered a Ryan Braun double to start the frame.

Eric Thames also homered, hitting his team-leading 25th in the first. It got Milwaukee out to yet another first-inning lead. It was the 89th run scored by the Brewers in the opening frame this season, tops in the major leagues.

St. Louis got that run back in the second on a bases-loaded groundout by Luke Voit. After Suter fired a 1-2-3 third, Molina hit a solo homer in the fourth into the Cardinals' bullpen in right-center to put the Brewers in the hole for the first time in the series.

Starter Luke Weaver recovered quickly after Thames' round-tripper, striking out a pair in the second and then two more in the fourth to up his total to six.

The Brewers finally put a little pressure on him in the fifth, when Keon Broxton reached on a one-out throwing error by shortstop Paul DeJong and Orlando Arcia walked.

Suter moved the runners up with a bunt, but Eric Sogard bounced out to second base and Milwaukee dropped to 1 for its last 41 with runners in scoring position in the process.

Molina opened the sixth with a homer to left, and then Suter allowed consecutive singles before striking out Randal Grichuk to end his night.

Counsell called on Jeremy Jeffress, in uniform for the first time since being reacquired on Monday. He retired Weaver, but Kolten Wong followed with a two-out, two-run double to right-center to raise the deficit to 5-1.

That closed the book on Suter, who allowed eight hits, five runs and a walk while striking out seven in a 94-pitch outing. The five runs matched the total he'd allowed in his previous five starts since replacing the injured Chase Anderson in the rotation.

BOX SCORE:Cardinals 5, Brewers 4

NOTES:Sogard trying to regain his magic

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules

Braun singled with one out in the sixth against Weaver, just the Brewers' third hit of the night. Domingo Santana then drew a two-out walk, but Manny Piña struck out and Milwaukee had failed yet again to deliver with a runner in scoring position.

The Brewers got a leadoff double from Broxton – snapping an 0-for-20 skid of his own – in the seventh. Arcia grounded out but Hernán Pérez, just in the game, singled to center to plate Broxton and cut the Cardinals' lead to 5-2.

Former Brewer reliever Zach Duke replaced Weaver and halted the inning there.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

* Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of Arcia's MLB debut in San Diego.

In 158 games since then, Arcia was hitting .254 with 13 homers and 53 RBI. Since May 18 of this season, he's hitting .309 with five homers and 21 RBI.

* Class AA Biloxi teammates Troy Stokes, Jr. and Aaron Wilkerson were named the Brewers' minor-league player and pitcher of the month for July, respectively.

Stokes, a fourth-round pick of the Brewers in 2014, hit .289 with 10 extra-base hits, 13 RBI, 19 walks, 13 runs scored and seven stolen bases with a .387 on-base percentage combined between advanced Class A Carolina and Biloxi.

Wilkerson, acquired from the Boston Red Sox last season as part of a deal for Aaron Hill, was 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in five starts with 31 strikeouts to just seven walks in 32 total innings. His 0.81 WHIP led all of Class AA in July, and his .165 opponents’ batting average ranked second.

STAT SHEET

* The Brewers entered Wednesday having scored 88 first-inning runs, which was tops in the major leagues. Overall, the team has outscored its opponents by a total of 88-51 in the opening frame of games.

* Milwaukee was 11-4 over its last 15 games at Miller Park heading into Wednesday. The Brewers posted a 2.82 ERA and limited opponents to a .233 average over that span.

TAKEAWAY

The reappearance of the offense – however small – was encouraging. But Suter didn't have it, and as a result the Brewers will have to try again on Thursday to win the series from the Cardinals.

RECORD

This year: 56-53 (29-27 home; 26-26 away)

Last year: 49-60

ATTENDANCE

Wednesday: 34,433

2017 total: 1,731,802 (30,383 avg.)

Last year: 1,663,092 (29,177 avg.)

NEXT GAME

Thursday: Brewers vs. Cardinals, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Matt Garza (4-5, 3.83) vs. St. Louis RHP Michael Wacha (8-4, 3.71). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: 620-AM.