The Milwaukee Brewers have dominated the St. Louis Cardinals this season, winning seven of eight meetings with their 3-2 victory on Tuesday.
The Brewers will try to continue that trend Wednesday night in the middle contest of a three-game series at St. Louis.
Milwaukee extended its winning streak to six games with good situational hitting and just enough pitching Tuesday.
“That’s a really athletic group across the way,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Credit to them. They may not have some of the names that are household names, but when it comes to athleticism and overall skill, it’s a good team, a well-put-together team.”
Brewers slugger Rhys Hoskins said before Tuesday’s game that his team just keeps finding ways to win.
“We, as the Brewers, kind of have to play the game a little bit differently than some of these powerhouse teams in the league, running around the bases, causing chaos, bunting, trying to get a run here in the third, a run here in the fourth, and all of a sudden we’re up,” he said on the “Foul Territory” podcast.
The Brewers will turn to right-hander Tobias Myers (6-5, 2.81 ERA) on Wednesday. Meyers has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his past six starts.
In his one previous career outing against the Cardinals on May 9, Meyers yielded one run on three hits and four walks in four innings. The one St. Louis run came on Lars Nootbaar’s homer as Milwaukee won 7-1.
The Cardinals have lost seven of their past eight games.
“We’ve got to take our best shot, man,” Marmol said. “There’s nobody that’s going to give in. I’m not going to give in, they’re not going to give in. Is it going to be easy, no. But we’re going to show up with enthusiasm and some conviction in what we do.”
St. Louis will turn to right-hander Kyle Gibson (7-5, 4.26) on Wednesday. Gibson allowed seven runs (six earned) on seven hits — including four homers — in 4 2/3 innings in a 9-2 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 14.
“It’s human nature to constantly feel frustrated when it’s like you’re fighting from behind,” Gibson said. “It’s human nature when you’re struggling to not play as confident and maybe have your mind wander. It happens to me on the mound from time to time when it’s not going the way you want it to go, and you’ve got to try and stay focused. It’s hard to play this game frustrated. It’s hard to play when things aren’t going your way and you’re not playing confidently.”
Gibson struck out six and issued two free passes, giving him 19 strikeouts and four walks in three starts and 17 2/3 innings this month.
In two starts against the Brewers this season, Gibson is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA. He allowed just three runs on six hits in 11 innings in those starts, but he walked eight batters while striking out 10.
Gibson is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA in 10 career starts against the Brewers.
The Cardinals made several moves ahead of the start of this series. Matt Carpenter came off the 10-day injured list and hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning on Tuesday. First baseman Luken Baker arrived from Triple-A Memphis, and the Cardinals also gave shortstop Brandon Crawford his unconditional release and returned outfielder Jordan Walker to Memphis.
–Field Level Media