For six innings, the Brewers and Cardinals were involved in another close, low-scoring baseball game. Starters Robert Gasser and Hunter Dobbins were both pitching well, and while Milwaukee got out to an early lead, the Cardinals punched back in the sixth.
Then the seventh inning happened.
Milwaukee put up seven runs in their half of the seventh, and Gasser went deeper into a game than he ever has as a professional, and the Brewers finished a sweep of today’s doubleheader that guaranteed the team a series win in this five-game set. On top of all of that, rookie Luis Lara played his first game as a big leaguer and got off on the right foot.
After Christian Yelich started the game with a groundout, Lara got his first chance as a big leaguer. He had a nice at-bat and worked Dobbins to a full count, but on the seventh pitch he saw he also grounded out. Brice Turang hit a two-out double into the right-field corner, but Andrew Vaughn struck out looking, and the Brewers didn’t score in the first.
In the bottom of the inning, Gasser also allowed a two-out hit — a single to Jordan Walker — but he retired Nelson Velázquez on the very next pitch, and the inning was over. Dobbins and Gasser both worked quick second innings, as neither allowed anything except for another two-out bloop single for José Fermín.
The Brewers put themselves in a good position to start the third when Cooper Pratt hit a ball into the right-field corner that bounced just in front of the wall and ended up as his first career triple. Dobbins picked up a big strikeout of Joey Ortiz, but Yelich was able to come through with an RBI groundout that gave the Brewers an early 1-0 lead. With two outs, Lara nearly picked up his first hit as a big leaguer with a looping line drive to right, but Walker caught it on a dive to end the inning.
Sal Frelick answered Walker’s diving catch by making one of his own to lead off the bottom of the inning. Frelick made another nice play on a fly ball from JJ Wetherholt for the second out, but St. Louis got another two-out baserunner when Iván Herrera walked. Walker followed with a groundball to third, which Ortiz played in shallow left field and made a heck of a throw to get Walker — a play that looked very, very close, but which the Cardinals didn’t challenge.
Dobbins sliced through the Brewers in order in the top of the fourth. Gasser continued what was already an efficient game by getting his first three-up, three-down inning on just seven pitches. With the bullpen needing a break in the second game of a doubleheader, Gasser was through four scoreless innings on just 42 pitches.
Sánchez drew a walk to start the fifth, and after a Frelick flyout, Pratt walked, too. With two on and one out, Ortiz lined a solid single to right, loading the bases for the top of the order. Yelich struck out, and the Brewers were in danger of letting a golden opportunity pass… but Lara came up with a big moment in his debut. He hit a grounder just past a diving Wetherholt that scored two runs, and he ended up at second after Walker threw to third. Turang flew out to end the inning, but the Brewers were up 3-0, and the kid was on the board.
Nine pitches later, Gasser had another 1-2-3 inning.
After Dobbins walked Vaughn to start the sixth, he was replaced by lefty Jared Shuster. His first batter was Jake Bauers, who also walked. Shuster struck out Sánchez to get himself back in the inning. With one out and two on, Pat Murphy opted to send Jackson Chourio in as a pinch-hitter for Frelick, but he flew out to center on the first pitch he saw. Pratt, who’d reached in each of his first two at-bats, still had a chance with two out, and he hit a hard grounder up the middle, but Masyn Winn was able to make the play to get the Cardinals out of the inning.
After a Wetherholt groundout, Lara got his first action in the field when Herrera flew out to shallow center. But Gasser finally faltered with two outs in the sixth. Walker lined his second two-out single of the game, and Velázquez, the next batter, got a mistake on a 1-2 fastball and hit it into the front row in left-center. Gasser had been brilliant, but suddenly the Brewers were ahead by just one. Alec Burleson then made it his personal goal to wreck Gasser’s excellent pitch count, but on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, he hit a weak tapper that ended the inning. Even with the long inning, Gasser was at just 72 pitches through six, but the score was now 3-2.
The suddenly scorching-hot Ortiz had an immediate answer. On the second pitch of the seventh inning, Ortiz hit one out to left for his third homer of the season, and, including the first game of the doubleheader, his fifth hit of the day. After a Yelich strikeout, Lara came to the plate as a right-handed hitter for the first time and drew the first walk of his career. Lara then got to show off the wheels when Turang hit a ball into the gap in right field; center fielder Nathan Church cut it off, and St. Louis thought they’d have a play at the plate, but Lara was way too fast and scored without much trouble.
Milwaukee still wasn’t done. Vaughn hit a ground ball up the middle that Winn was able to get to, but he couldn’t make a play on it. After Bauers walked (he was then replaced by the speedier Mitchell, who would take his place in right field in the bottom of the inning), the bases were loaded with one out for Sánchez. Sánchez delivered with a base hit to left field that scored two and advanced Mitchell to third.
Shuster was clearly laboring and had thrown over 30 pitches in the inning, but the Cardinals were going to cruelly make him figure it out. Chourio was up next, and he took three balls and a strike before he crushed an RBI single into right field that made it 8-2 Brewers. Shuster was mercifully replaced by right-hander Gordon Graceffo after that, 39 pitches into the inning and 52 in the game. Pratt greeted Graceffo rudely by lining a two-run double down the left-field line that scored two more runs. Yelich, trying to avoid making his second out of the inning, grounded out to finally end the top of the seventh. But the Brewers had scored seven runs in response to the two St. Louis had garnered in the bottom of the previous inning, opening up a 10-2 lead.
After a long layoff, Gasser was back on the mound. Winn grounded out to third, and for the first time in his major league career, Gasser had recorded an out in the seventh inning. Two batters later, Gasser had two more outs, and he was through seven.
Outfielder Bryan Torres was the new Cardinals pitcher in the eighth. The Brewers hit some balls hard and got a baserunner when Wetherholt was given an error on a grounder by Vaughn, but Torres didn’t give up any hits and got the Cardinals through the inning. Gasser was back for the eighth at 86 pitches. After getting the first two batters of the inning, he hit Jimmy Crooks (who’d come in as a defensive replacement in the top of the inning), and Murphy elected to end his night there. He called for Craig Yoho, and while Walker scalded a line drive, he hit it right at Vaughn for the third out.
Gasser was fantastic. He completed 7 2/3 innings, five more outs than he’d ever gotten in a big-league game before, and allowed just four hits and one walk. If not for the one mistake to Velásquez in the sixth, he may have had a chance at a complete-game shutout, but either way, he gave the Brewers length and efficiency at the best possible time.
In Torres’ second inning, he issued a leadoff walk to Sánchez. He then faced… left-handed Jackson Chourio? Chourio put some decent wood on the ball from the wrong side of the plate, but flew out to deep center. Pratt hit a hard line drive to short, but it was caught, and Ortiz flew out. Two scoreless, hitless innings for Torres.
Yoho was tasked with finishing the game, and he did just that, in order. Fittingly, Lara made the catch that ended the game.
In a game that featured a balanced offensive attack, the Brewers got hits from seven different players and multiple hits from three. Those multiple hits came from three guys with standout games: Turang, who had two doubles; Pratt, who had a double and a triple; and Ortiz, who hit the team’s only home run. But it was Gasser who was the big story, as he had one of his best nights as a professional and did a huge solid for a heavily worked pitching staff. Miraculously, the Brewers got through the doubleheader while using only three relievers: Ashby and Uribe for an inning each in the early game, and Yoho for four outs in the nightcap.
With two wins today, Milwaukee has already clinched this five-game series, but they’ve got two more games in St. Louis. The series continues tomorrow with Kyle Harrison on the mound for the Brewers versus Michael McGreevy at 6:45 p.m.
