Brewers drop 2 of 3 in critical series against the St. Louis Cardinals

This one really hurts.

The Milwaukee Brewers entered this weekend’s series a mere half game behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. They leave St. Louis down 1.5 games after losing two out of three to the Cards.

This was a series defined by stellar starting pitching. On Friday, trade deadline acquisition Jordan Montgomery befuddled the Brewers in a 3-1 Cardinals victory. Eric Lauer turned in a solid performance, but three runs allowed on a pair of homers did him in.

Saturday pitted Corbin Burnes against Adam Wainwright. Both were spectacular, each allowing a single earned run. The Brewers were down 1-0 in the 8th inning, but a Luis Urias opposite field homer tied things up.

In the top of the 10th inning Hunter Renfroe’s leadoff triple gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Kolten Wong’s sac fly made it 3-1 Milwaukee and Matt Bush would pitch around a leadoff single and sac fly to secure a save and a 3-2 Brewers win.

Sunday’s finale showcased Aaron Ashby against Miles Mikolas. Both pitchers excelled, with a pair of solo homers being the only damage off of Ashby and a two-run homer by Hunter Renfroe being Mikolas’ only blemish.

A solo homer from Dylan Carlson off of Taylor Rogers gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 8th. The death blow came later in the inning as Albert Pujols hit his second homer of the game, this time scoring three runs, which would extend the lead to 6-2. A solo homer from Rowdy Tellez in the 9th made the final score 6-3 Cardinals. Mark this series down as a missed opportunity.

Next on the schedule is another significant challenge. The best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are coming to Milwaukee for four games against The Crew.

Adam and Andrew recap the series against St. Louis and discuss the daunting task ahead.

Master Brewer Leaderboard (through 113 games)

(The Master Brewer Leaderboard is a season-long leaderboard tracking and ranking exceptional performances from Brewers players in the form of Master Brew Points 🍺, which at the end of the season will tally up to crown our Crewsing for a Brewsing Player of the Year.)

Corbin Burnes 🍺

For the most part, Corbin Burnes matched Adam Wainwright pitch for pitch in a battle of aces. Burnes ended his night with seven innings pitched, four hits allowed, one run allowed, and six strikeouts. He looked destined for an underserved loss until the bats woke up late in the game. Watching him and Wainwright go toe to toe in one of the most important games of the season was a joy.

Aaron Ashby 🍺

Ashby did his job on Sunday. The left-hander turned in a stellar performance that was only marred by two solo homers. Ashby threw six innings, allowed just three hits, two runs, and struck out five Cardinals. Unfortunately the Cardinals took the lead after Ashby exited with a solo homer off of Taylor Rogers.

Matt Bush 🍺

Matt Bush continues to recover from the difficult start of his Brewers career. He recorded a “Manfred Ball” save on Saturday as he buckled down after allowing the inherited runner to score. He added a scoreless inning on Sunday to keep the Brewers in the game, alas, his efforts were later wasted.

Hunter Renfroe 🍺

Hunter Renfroe came through when the Brewers needed him most on Saturday night. His 10th inning triple gave them a 2-1 lead and he’d also score a vital insurance run on a Kolten Wong sacrifice fly. Without his hustle triple there’s a good chance that third run doesn’t score and the game eventually gets sent to the 11th inning. Overall for the series Renfroe finished 3-for-11 with a walk, the aforementioned triple, a homer, one run, and three RBI.

Luis Urias 🍺

Luis Urias once again come through in the clutch. His opposite field solo homer off of a dominant Adam Wainwright tied things up on Saturday night. His final tally for the series was a 3-for-11 batting line with a triple, a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI.

Leaderboard through 113 games

Rowdy Tellez: 🍺 x18

Corbin Burnes: 🍺 x14

Christian Yelich: 🍺 x13

Willy Adames, Andrew McCutchen: 🍺 x10

Jace Peterson: 🍺 x9

Hunter Renfroe, Luis Urias, Brandon Woodruff🍺 x8

Tyrone Taylor, Kolten Wong, Devin Williams, Josh Hader: 🍺 x7

Eric Lauer: 🍺 x6

Aaron Ashby, Keston Hiura, Hoby Milner: 🍺 x5

Trevor Gott, Jonathan Davis, Victor Caratini, Jason Alexander, Freddy Peralta: 🍺 x3

Matt Bush, Brad Boxberger, Omar Narvaez, Adrian Houser: 🍺 x2

Jandel Gustave, Brent Suter, Luke Barker, Peter Strzelecki: 🍺