Brewers only split series against the Cardinals in spite of welcome win from challenging bullpen day

Six games against the Yankees and Mets are coming up next.

If you’d told me that this week’s Milwaukee Brewers vs. St. Louis Cardinals two-game series would end in a 1-1 split I would have believed you. If you told the Brewers would win a bullpen game and lose the game started by Corbin Burnes I would have not believed you.

Tuesday saw the Brewers use eight pitchers to get the job done. Luis Perdomo provided three solid innings to help them recover from an early Matt Bush injury. His effort was followed by scoreless work from Brad Boxberger, Hoby Milner, Justin Topa, Taylor Rogers, and Brent Suter to secure the 8-4 win.

On Wednesday, Corbin Burnes delivered seven solid innings of work, but the lineup could not cash in with runners in scoring position. The Brewers were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base overall. That frustrating combination led to a 4-1 Cardinals win.

Adam and Andrew chat about the split and look ahead to six consecutive games against teams from New York.

Master Brewer Leaderboard (through 143 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.)

Willy Adames 🍺

Willy Adames had an excellent two-game stretch against the Cards. Adames finished the series 3-for-7 with three walks, a double, one run scored, and two RBI. His OBP is still below what the Brewers would like it to be, but it is creeping back towards his career average. A 2023 return to form is easy to imagine with Willy, but there’s still a 2022 playoff push to worry about first.

Luis Urias 🍺

Urias only played in the first game of this series, but it was a good performance. Urias went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double. He did make a few base-running mistakes, but given his solid defense at two positions and seemingly a directive from the coaching staff to run on contact that particular game, we’ll still make sure Urias gets a beer.

Andrew McCutchen 🍺

Cutch had a great Tuesday night, as he finished the victory 2-for-5 with a double, a homer, one run, and three RBI. Game 2 was far less of a success, but his run production in a win earns him a beer.

Luis Perdomo 🍺

Luis Perdomo entered Tuesday’s game when the Brewers needed innings and damage control. Perdomo provided both. After Matt Bush and Peter Strzelecki patched together a difficult first inning that erased a 2-0 Brewers lead, Perdomo came in and fired three innings pitched with just one run allowed. It was essential to keeping the Brewers in the game without completely overworking the rest of the bullpen.

Hoby Milner 🍺

Hoby Milner entered in relief of Perdomo and tossed 1.1 scoreless innings. He looked like he was prepared to go even further, but Craig Counsell elected to bring in Brad Boxberger with one out in the 6th inning.

Corbin Burnes 🍺

Wednesday night, the Brewers were in need of even more bulk innings thanks to a tired bullpen and Corbin Burnes at the very least gave them that. Burnes finished his night with seven innings pitched with three earned runs allowed. He deserved better than being saddled with a loss in the scorebook.

Leaderboard through 143 games

Rowdy Tellez: 🍺 x22

Christian Yelich: 🍺 x18

Corbin Burnes: 🍺 x17

Willy Adames: 🍺 x15

Andrew McCutchen: 🍺 x12

Brandon Woodruff: 🍺 x11

Jace Peterson, Hunter Renfroe: 🍺 x10

Luis Urias, Tyrone Taylor, Devin Williams:🍺 x9

Kolten Wong:🍺 x8

Keston Hiura, Josh Hader: 🍺 x7

Hoby Milner, Freddy Peralta: 🍺 x6

Aaron Ashby: 🍺 x5

Victor Caratini, Jason Alexander: 🍺 x4

Adrian Houser, Matt Bush, Taylor Rogers, Peter Strzelecki, Brad Boxberger, Trevor Gott, Jonathan Davis: 🍺 x3

Brent Suter, Omar Narvaez: 🍺 x2

Luis Perdomo, Garrett Mitchell, Jandel Gustave, Luke Barker: 🍺