Brewers 2, Cardinals 1: Jesús Aguilar belts two home runs, including a walk-off blast in thriller

Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run during the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.

Jesús Aguilar is rapidly reaching superstar status in Milwaukee.

The Venezuelan slugger, who three months ago appeared to be fighting an uphill battle to make the Brewers' opening-day roster, beat the St. Louis Cardinals with two mighty swings of his bat Friday night.

His first, in the seventh inning, broke up a no-hit bid by Jack Flaherty. Then his second, with one out in the ninth, gave the Brewers their fifth walk-off victory of the season, a 2-1 thriller at Miller Park.

Stress levels were high in the seventh, with Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty  nine outs away from becoming the fourth opposing pitcher to no-hit the Brewers and first since Justin Verlander did it in 2007 in Detroit.

Flaherty opened by striking out Travis Shaw, which brought Aguilar to the plate. Having gone 0 for 2 to that point, Aguilar didn't wait long to make his first swing count.

ANALYSIS:At every turn, Jesús Aguilar is impressing for Brewers

BOX SCORE:Brewers 2, Cardinals 1

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On Flaherty's second offering - a slider down - Aguilar turned on it and belted it out to left, giving the Brewers their first hit and tying the game at 1-1. It was Aguilar's 15th homer and gave him 48 runs batted in - both team highs.

Flaherty finished out the inning and departed with a career-high-tying 13 strikeouts to his credit, and was replaced by flame-throwing Jordan Hicks in the eighth.

Eric Sogard greeted him with a ringing single to center off a 100-mph fastball but then found himself in the middle of a scrum after Hernán Pérez tried bunting him up to second.

Sogard slid hard into second base and knocked an off-balance Yairo Muñoz off his feet as he took the throw. Words were exchanged, and both benches and bullpens emptied quickly in response.

"He was right directly in front of the bag so I had to slide," Sogard said. "I don't know if he was expecting contact or not but I think I did the best I could to keep things safe for both of us.

"The first words that came out of my mouth were, 'Are you all right?' I don't know if he understood what I was saying but he got a little mad, and I guess we both got a little fired up."

The dust-up proved to be short-lived, however. But after the Brewers got Pérez to second as the potential go-ahead run with two outs, Lorenzo Cain struck out.

After Corey Knebel set the Cardinals down in order in the top of the ninth, Bud Norris struck out Shaw to bring Aguilar to the plate.

Norris quickly got ahead, 0-2, and Aguilar fouled off his third offering before going out to get a 96-mph fastball and driving it out to right-center to spark a furious celebration.

There was little offense to speak of on either side in the early going, with Marcell Ozuna's two-out, RBI single in the third off Junior Guerra accounting for the lone run.

Cain was the only Brewers player to reach base before Aguilar's first homer, drawing a first-inning walk and being hit by a pitch in the fourth. Jonathan Villar came close to registering Milwaukee's first hit to lead off the fifth, but Muñoz ranged into short left field and made a nice play to haul in his liner.

"I think he's got a good slider that he used to some guys, his fastball was rarely, it felt like, in a good place to hit," manager Craig Counsell said of Flaherty.

"He used the changeup to left handed hitters, he didn't make mistakes. There were a couple of pitches we fouled back, but there wasn't like a lot of good balls to hit tonight."

Guerra was again the victim of no offense behind him, as he limited St. Louis to three hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in his five-inning, 106-pitch outing.

Josh Hader, Jacob Barnes, Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel combined to retire all 12 hitters they faced behind Guerra.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

MILEY HEADS OUT: Left-hander Wade Miley began a minor-league rehab assignment Friday with Class AA Biloxi, allowing three hits, one earned run and no walks with three strikeouts. Miley is on the 60-day disabled list with a right oblique strain suffered during his last start May 8. Manager Craig Counsell said previously that Miley was expected to make at least four starts in the minors before returning.

BRAUN NOT QUITE BACK: Ryan Braun was out of the lineup again Friday, two days after undergoing another cryogenic injection on his right thumb. But based on what Counsell said, Braun should be back in the lineup at some point this weekend.

"He's available," Counsell said. "It's just the more time we can give him here to let the inflammation go away, hopefully (it) will be better. He's good to go. He's ready to play."

SEE YOU LATER: The Brewers caught a break early Friday when Cardinals centerfielder Tommy Pham was ejected by Timmons in the first inning. Timmons rang Pham up on a called third strike, then ran him shortly thereafter after Pham had some words for him from the dugout. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny came out for an explanation but had no recourse other than to insert Harrison Bader into Pham's spot.

Thames was fortunate not to be tossed by Timmons after he struck out to end the third inning and slammed his bat and helmet to the ground in protest of an earlier called strike.

JACOB'S LADDER: Since being recalled from Class AAA Colorado Springs on May 27, right-hander Jacob Barnes hasn't allowed a run over 10 appearances (10 1/3 innings) while striking out 10.

"Jacob's been really good since he got back," said Counsell. "For Jacob, it's all about attacking the hitters and just going after them. When he does that, he always gets good results and is very rarely on the short end.

"When he's on the attack, he's making them swing the bat or offering pitches right on the strike zone and that's when he's going to have success. His problems come when the misses get a little bigger."

BRENT IS BUMMED: Brent Suter won his team-leading eighth game Thursday night, a fact that very much pleased the left-hander. But he was also upset about the fact he broke his favorite bat in his first at-bat of the game, a popout to third in the second inning. It was the same bat Suter used to hit his first career homer off Cleveland's Corey Kluber on May 8. "That was my baby," he said.

RECORD

This year: 45-30

Last year: 40-35

ATTENDANCE

Friday: 36,275

This year: 1,270,715 (34,344 avg.)

Last year: 1,046,062 (28,272 avg.)

COMING UP

Saturday: Brewers vs. Cardinals, 3:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (5-6, 4.54) vs. St. Louis RHP Miles Mikolas (7-2, 2.69). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.