Brewers split four game series vs Cardinals to remain deadlocked in NL Central

Buckle up, this division race could go down to the wire.

As far as June series go, this was a pretty big one for the Milwaukee Brewers. They entered Monday with a 38-30 record, deadlocked in the NL Central with this week’s opponent, the annoying as ever St. Louis Cardinals.

A Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams, Josh Hader combined shutout started the series off on a good note before losses in Games 2 and 3 dampened spirits a bit. A Thursday afternoon victory secured the series split, providing optimism going into a weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

A sense of normalcy returns to the podcast this week, as Adam and Andrew get back to basics talking Brewers with just one another (no disrespect, Ti).

Master Brewer Leaderboard (through 72 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 🍺

That’s what an ace does! The Brewers came into this series against the Cardinals knowing there’d be some uncertainty surrounding Tuesday’s starting pitcher due to Aaron Ashby landing on the IL. It was key to spare the bullpen on Monday just in case the Crew needed a patchwork effort to get through the game. Enter Corbin Burnes, staff ace. Burnes pitched seven innings, allowed only two hits, struck out 10 Cardinals, and most importantly didn’t allow any runs. Yeah, that’ll do it.

Willy Adames 🍺

Willy has been mostly feast or famine lately, but he has been productive. Against the Cards he finished 4-for-13 with two runs, three RBI, and a homer. If his power surge continues he could threaten Robin Yount’s season record for homers by a shortstop. Yount hit 29 in 1982, keeping the record ever since.

Tyrone Taylor 🍺

Tyrone Taylor had a flair for the dramatic, giving the Brewers the lead in Games 1 and 4 with homers. His two-run shot in the Corbin Burnes’ gem was enough to give the Brewers a 2-0 win and his three-run bomb on Thursday afternoon took the score from 2-1 Cardinals to 4-2 Brewers.

Rowdy Tellez 🍺

Why do we like Rowdy Tellez? Because he gets on base, of course. Rowdy only recorded two hits in the series, but one was a homer. His four walks sealed the deal for him in getting a well earned beer. We like guys that get on base.

Josh Hader 🍺

Josh Hader returned from the paternity list and showed the Cardinals why he’s the best closer in baseball. Hader tossed a pair of scoreless innings with no runs allowed, and three strikeouts to lock down two saves.

Devin Williams 🍺

Devin Williams was pretty dominant himself, racking up two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Per Dominic Cotroneo, Williams now has 17 straight scoreless innings. He has faced 58 batters during this stretch. 26 have struck out and only eight have reached base.

Leaderboard through 72 games

Rowdy Tellez: 🍺 x10

Corbin Burnes: 🍺 x8

Jace Peterson: 🍺 x7

Josh Hader, Christian Yelich: 🍺 x6

Devin Williams, Willy Adames, Hunter Renfroe 🍺 x5

Tyrone Taylor, Andrew McCutchen: 🍺 x4

Hoby Milner, Jason Alexander, Aaron Ashby, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer, Kolten Wong 🍺 x3

Victor Caratini, Omar Narvaez, Brandon Woodruff, Luis Urias, Adrian Houser, Keston Hiura: 🍺 x2

Brad Boxberger, Trevor Gott, Luke Barker, Peter Strzelecki: 🍺