Brewers Edge Over Cardinals, 2-0

Pitching poised to hold the narrowest of leads

The Brewers maintain their solid lead over the Reds in the NL Central with a 2-0 shutout win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night. The two runs were more than the Brewers needed for a win, given the strength of their pitching.

Despite struggling with command (for him), Corbin Burnes kept the Cardinals scoreless across six innings of dominant pitching. He allowed only two hits, two walks, and only logged three strikeouts against a Cardinals offense that kept putting the ball in play for little effect. Burnes, who’s notching 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings this season, was paced for 4.5 strikeouts per nine on Tuesday night.

The Brewers would set their offensive tone early, leaving the bases loaded in the first after failing to score on an Eduardo Escobar liner that left Kolten Wong narrowly out at home.

They’d also leave runners stranded in the fourth after loading the bases with only one out and the three and four spot due up. The Crew had runners on in nearly every inning and left thirteen runners stranded.

The first run the Crew was able to score came on a narrowly deflected Kolten Wong double and subsequent throwing errors that allowed Rowdy Tellez to score. The second run came in the third off a pair of right field doubles from Christian Yelich and Omar Narváez.

Burnes was backed up by solid relief performances by Brad Boxberger in the seventh, Devin Williams in the eighth, and Josh Hader in the ninth. Each reliever allowed one base runner but looked entirely solid in high leverage relief poised to carry the Brewers to the postseason.

The Crew looks to secure the series win tomorrow at 6:45pm CT. It’s scheduled to be another pitching match as Freddy Peralta takes on Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals.