Cardinals 7, Brewers 2: For first time since early weeks, Brewers out of playoff position

ST. LOUIS – The Milwaukee Brewers cannot find the brakes to halt their August slide.

Giving away runs with mistakes and sloppy play, the sagging Brewers lost again Saturday night to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2, at Busch Stadium. 

With their 10th loss in 15 games this month, the Brewers dropped out of a playoff position for the first time since the early weeks of the season. The hard-charging Cardinals, winners of 10 of 11, moved past them into the second wild-card spot by a half-game, one behind Philadelphia.

The game included some early fireworks after St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas drilled Lorenzo Cain with a fastball in the top of the first inning. Cain, who was hit by a pitch from Mikolas the last time he faced him and has been plunked three times by the Cards, took exception to it and let the St. Louis dugout know about it.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Brewers starter Wade Miley threw a first-pitch cutter low and behind Tyler O’Neill, the ball skipping to the backstop. Home plate umpire Cory Blaser then issued warnings to both benches, causing Miley to come at him in anger.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell got between his pitcher and Blaser, having plenty to say about the warning and getting ejected. Counsell then really let Blaser have it before retreating to the visiting manager’s office.

BOX SCORE: Cardinals 7, Brewers 2

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The score was tied, 1-1, in the third when St. Louis scored three unearned runs off Miley in a rally filled with weirdness. After Kolten Wong led off with a single, Miley threw over but first baseman Jesús Aguilar wasn’t expecting it and it drilled Wong on the elbow, forcing him to leave the game after the inning was done.

After Mikolas bunted into a force at second, the Brewers had a chance to turn a double play on Matt Carpenter’s grounder to first. But third baseman Mike Moustakas, taking the throw at second with the infield shifted, saw no one covering first and held the ball.

Miley still should have been out of the inning unscathed when Yadier Molina struck out but catcher Erik Kratz whiffed on the pitch for a passed ball that allowed Molina to reach base. Tyler O’Neill followed with a bloop into shallow right that Aguilar couldn’t get to, dropping safely for a run-scoring single.

With the Brewers’ infield shifted to the left side, Paul DeJong bounced a grounder through the vacated right side for a two-run single and the Cardinals had a 4-1 lead gift-wrapped for them.

The Brewers gave away two more runs in the sixth when a throwing error by shortstop Orlando Arcia and walk by Jedd Gyorko set up a two-run triple for Harrison Bader off Corey Knebel.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

WALKING WOUNDED GET REST: Ryan Braun (ribcage) and Manny Piña (shoulder) were out of the lineup for a second day, and Eric Thames (knee) joined them after banging into the wall Friday night in an outfield collision with teammate Lorenzo Cain. But all three participated in pre-game batting practice and were able to pinch hit. “Eric is just sore today, kind of sore in a lot of places,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Nothing that I think will last but just sore.” Counsell said he wasn’t sure if any of the three would start the series finale Sunday. “We’re leaving that open,” he said.

SORIA TAKES STEP FORWARD: Reliever Joakim Soria took a step forward in his recovery from a groin strain with a positive throwing session off flat ground Friday. “It was a very positive day,” Counsell said. “He’ll do a little bit more (Sunday), throw a modified bullpen. Then we’ll go from there.” Soria won’t be ready when eligible to be activated Monday but the Brewers hope it won’t go a lot longer than that.

SHAW HITS A BOMB: Travis Shaw was having a miserable road trip when he stepped to the plate in the second inning, collecting just one hit in 16 at-bats. But, on a 3-2 fastball from Mikolas, Shaw got hold of one, sending his 24th homer far out to right. Shaw struck out on three pitches, however, in the sixth with runners on second and third and one out.

TALE OF TWO TRADES: The Brewers picked up two bats before the trade deadline – third baseman Mike Moustakas and second baseman Jonathan Schoop – and the results have been dramatically different. In his first 18 games, Moustakas was batting .306 with two homers, 10 RBI, .380 OBP and .848 OPS. In his first 14 games, Schoop was hitting .167 with no homers, three RBI, .184 OBP and .392 OPS.

CLUTCH HITTING REMAINS AWOL: The Brewers didn’t have many scoring chances but did go 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position. Hitting in the clutch has been an ongoing issue. Entering the game, the Brewers were batting .244 with runners in scoring position, 11th in the NL, and .224 with the bases loaded, 13th in the NL.

RECORD

This year: 68-57

Last year: 65-60

COMING UP

Sunday: Brewers at Cardinals, 1:15 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Jhouly Chacín (12-4, 3.72) vs. St. Louis RHP John Gant (5-4, 3.74). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.