MILWAUKEE (AP) — Luken Baker singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals won two of three from the NL Central-leading Brewers, with extra-inning victories each of the last two nights. St. Louis won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.
Milwaukee went 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.
St. Louis had a runner at third with two outs in the 10th when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was promoted from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, came out of the bullpen to make his first major league appearance since Aug. 8.
Baker came in as a pinch-hitter and sent a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn.
Ryan Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to earn his second save in four opportunities. Andrew Kittredge (3-4) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of bases-loaded walks from Colin Rea, and the score stayed that way until the Brewers scored single runs in the seventh and eighth.
Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell hit a leadoff triple in the seventh and scored when Joey Ortiz grounded out to third. That was the only run allowed by St. Louis’ Sonny Gray, who struck out seven and gave up four hits and one walk in seven innings.
JoJo Romero took over for Gray in the eighth, and Eric Haase sent the left-hander’s first pitch way over the wall in left center for his fourth homer of the season. Haase’s tying, 438-foot blast marked the first time he’d gone deep since a two-homer game at Minnesota on July 21.
The Brewers nearly took the lead later in the inning.
Brice Turang followed Haase’s homer with a double to left. Turang advanced to third when Chourio grounded out, then Romero was removed in favor of Kittredge.
With the go-ahead run at third, Kittredge struck out pinch-hitter William Contreras, intentionally walked Willy Adames and struck out Mitchell.
The Cardinals pulled ahead early by capitalizing on Rea’s uncharacteristic control problems.
Rea hadn’t walked anybody in four straight starts and had issued just one walk the entire month of August, but he issued bases-loaded walks to Iván Herrera and Lars Nootbaar in the first inning.
The Cardinals did no more damage against Rea, who struck out four while allowing four hits to go with those two walks and two runs in four innings. Milwaukee’s DL Hall struck out six in four innings of scoreless relief.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: Off Thursday before beginning a three-game home series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday. The scheduled starting pitchers Friday are RHP Erick Fedde (8-8, 3.43) for the Cardinals and RHP Bryce Miller (10-8, 3.30) for the Mariners.
Brewers: Off Thursday before starting a three-game home series with the Colorado Rockies on Friday. RHP Frankie Montas (6-9. 4.70) will pitch for the Brewers on Friday. The Rockies haven’t announced a starter.
