The Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals have been in a dead heat for the last couple of weeks, so it figures they would wind up splitting their four-game series at American Family Field. Thursday in their series finale, Milwaukee rode the solid pitching of rookie righthander Jason Alexander and clutch home runs from Tyrone Taylor and Willy Adames to a 6-4 win.
The victory evens up the two teams atop the National League Central at 40-32 on the year. Collectively, the Brewers and Cardinals have 9.5 games of separation between themselves and third-place Pittsburgh.
Still, Thursday’s game began with one of the sloppier plays you will ever see a Major League team make defensively.
After Cardinals rookie Nolan Gorman singled with one out, Paul Goldschmidt hit a scorcher down the left-field line. As Milwaukee tried to throw out Gorman at home, Adames’ relay hit the runner and bounded away, as Goldschmidt trotted into third base. Alexander, backing the play up wheeled and threw to third to try to get for St. Louis first baseman. However, Alexander’s throw was errant, and Goldschmidt ran home for the little league home run and a 2-0 lead.
Alexander, however, settled down and pitched 6.2 innings, surrendering 4 earned runs and 6 hits before giving way to the Milwaukee bullpen.
After a Jace Peterson sacrifice fly gave the Brewers an insurance run and a 6-4 lead, Josh Hader came in and slammed the door shut on St. Louis, retiring the Cardinals 1-2-3 on 12 pitches for his 21st save of the season.