The Milwaukee Brewers were able to secure a much-needed 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night to take advantage of a Phillies loss and gain ground in the NL Wild Card race.
Brandon Woodruff continued his usual domination with another stellar six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and scattering just five hits. That's his fourth consecutive start with 10 or more strikeouts, the longest stretch of such starts for a pitcher in Brewers franchise history.
Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning on an RBI single from Hunter Renfroe. They added to that in the 6th when Keston Hiura laced an RBI double to score Luis Urias. It was an important insurance run as the next inning, Andrew Knizner would hit a solo homer for the Cardinals off Matt Bush to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Devin Williams would be called upon to get out of a jam in the 7th inning and he was able to get a double play ball to get out of it. Willy Adames' glove flip to second base was a little high but Kolten Wong was able to catch it and make the turn for the spectacular double play. Williams would also work himself out of a jam in the 8th inning to keep it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Brewers offense was able to get some breathing room in the bottom half as Christian Yelich drew a bases loaded walk then Victor Caratini roped an opposite field ground rule double to score two more and make it a 5-1 Brewers lead. That would be all they needed as Brad Boxberger closed out the 9th for a 5-1 Brewers victory.
Milwaukee moves to 0.5 games back of the Phillies for the third and final Wild Card spot with seven games remaining on the schedule.