MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Brewers 2, Cardinals 1: Jhoulys Chacin comes up big and Brewers finally win on a Sunday

Tom Haudricourt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

ST. LOUIS – The Milwaukee Brewers exorcised a few demons on Sunday but a couple stood out above the others.

In hanging on for a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, the Brewers won on Sunday for the first time since July 8, snapping a 10-game losing streak in series finales in the process.

The Brewers had been 4-15 on Sundays, including a loss to the Braves a week earlier in which they collected 19 hits.

The victory also went to starter Jhoulys Chacín, his first ever against the Cardinals. And it didn't come a moment too soon for the Brewers, who went 3-5 on the trip that started in Atlanta and moved to Chicago before ending here.

With the nail-biter, the Brewers moved back ahead of the Cardinals and into a virtual three-way tie with Philadelphia and Colorado for the two NL wild-card spots.

Manager Craig Counsell changed starters before the series, moving up Chacín despite his bad track record against St. Louis. In three starts against the Cardinals this year, he was 0-2 with an 8.59 earned run average, and over his career had never beaten them, going 0-7, 6.90 in nine games.

But Chacín, who was coming off a brilliant start in Chicago (seven shutout innings, 10 strikeouts) blanked the Cardinals over six innings on four hits, with no walks and three strikeouts. He allowed only two base-runners to advance past first base.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 2, Cardinals 1

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

Jeremy Jeffress took over for Chacín and pitched a scoreless seventh but surrendered a leadoff homer in the eighth to pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom, his first in the majors. Matt Carpenter followed with a drive to deep center, getting the crowd excited, but Lorenzo Cain hauled it in.

Josh Hader, pitching for the first time in eight days, took over in the ninth and recorded the save, but not before a scare on Jedd Gyorko's fly to deep right to end the game.

The Brewers scored their two runs in the third inning off St. Louis starter John Gant. Orlando Arcia led off with a single to center, stole second and moved to third on Chacín’s bouncer to second.

St. Louis played its infield in and it worked when Christian Yelich grounded to second. But Cain walked and swiped second, setting up a two-run double to right by Mike Moustakas on a 0-2 changeup.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were having trouble mounting any threats against Chacín. Greg Garcia opened the bottom of the third with a single and Gant bunted him to second, but Carpenter and Yadier Molina grounded out and it stayed 2-0.

Gant exited the game after Yelich walked with one down in the fifth and Cain followed with an infield hit into the hole at short. Left-hander Brett Cecil retired Moustakas on a grounder to first, with the runners moving up, and after Jesús Aguilar was walked intentionally to load the bases, Travis Shaw fouled out.

Chacín’s moment of truth came in the sixth inning and he passed with flying colors. Carpenter led off with a bunt single, beating the shift and snapping a 0-for-18 skid, and after a couple of groundouts, a single by Marcell Ozuna put runners on the corners.

Chacín rose to the occasion, striking out Paul DeJong and slapping his hand into his glove before marching off the mound.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

PITCHING MADE THE DIFFERENCE: It was no secret why the Brewers entered the game 5-10 in August and St. Louis had gone 14-3 during the month to pass them in the wild-card race. Milwaukee’s pitchers had a 6.39 ERA for the month, by far the worst in the NL (horrible Miami was 14th at 5.32), and St. Louis’ staff had a 2.62 ERA, best in the league. Pretty stark pitching difference there.

ANDERSON GETS EXTRA REST: When Chase Anderson takes the mound Monday against Cincinnati at Miller Park, he will be working on seven days rest instead of the usual four. The Brewers were off last Monday and Thursday and Anderson was pushed back another day from the series finale in St. Louis. “I feel like it’s a good little breather for me, get refreshed and ready for an exciting six weeks. I took some time off at the beginning (of the week off), nothing really out of the ordinary. I still think we can get going and get the offense and the pitching clicking. We’re going to get on a run.”

BRAUN BACK IN; PIÑA STILL OUT: The Brewers got back one of their injured players Sunday when Ryan Braun returned from rib-cage tightness to make his first start of the series. Manny Piña missed his third game in a row after suffering a bruised left shoulder in Chicago, but another factor was that Erik Kratz has been catching Chacín in his starts.

SWEET SUCCESS FOR SWEET: When Class AAA Colorado Springs rallied for a 3-2 victory Saturday night over Omaha, it gave manager Rick Sweet his 272nd victory with the club, a franchise record. The previous mark of 271 was held by Brad Mills. Sweet began managing the club in 2015. The team is relocating to San Antonio after the season and is not expected to remain the Brewers’ Class AAA affiliate.

STRUGGLING WITH BASES FULL: Shaw does have a grand slam and 11 RBI batting with the bases loaded this season but has had trouble collecting hits, going 3 for 20 (.150), including a foul popup in the fifth. The Brewers as a team had struggled with the bases full, batting .220, 13th in the NL.

RECORD

This year: 69-57

Last year: 65-61

COMING UP

Monday: Reds at Brewers, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (7-7, 3.97) vs. Cincinnati RHP Homer Bailey (1-10, 6.33). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.