Cardinals lose 6-run lead, game to Brewers
October is supposed to be the month in baseball that the best games are played, heroes and made, and glory is thrusted upon one team. But not so in St. Louis Friday night.
The Cardinals’ third to final game of the season commenced at Busch Stadium Friday night, and the to the pleasant surprise of the fans in the ballpark, St. Louis jumped out to a 6-0 lead, a potential sign of what might be to come in the playoffs. But to the dismay of the Cardinals and their fans worldwide, things following did not bode well.
Exiting the 5th inning, St. Louis held a half -a-dozen lead over the Milwaukee Brewers, a safe lead in any book. But maybe the Cardinals got a little over-confident, or maybe after 160 games this season, it was bound to happen. Whatever the case, four innings and 12 runs scored against later, St. Louis found themselves the losers of the 12-6 games.
Kyle McClellan was credited with the loss, but the real loser of the game was Cardinals’ starting pitcher Adam Wainwright. The tall righty was trying for his 20th of the year, and if he had successfully reached the mark, he would have been the only person in all of Major League Baseball to do so.
Wainwright pitch excellently through the first 5 innings, keeping the Brewers runless. And even after he surrendered a run in the 6th and two singles in the 7th, he still had a 5 run lead. Milwaukee went on to score 6 runs in that 7th inning, 2 of which were charged to Wainwright. And just like that, the game was tied up, and any hopes that baseball would a 20-game winner were lost.
Things got really wild for the Cardinals in the 8th inning. The team threw 3 wild pitches, issued 2 walks and hit a batter all in the same inning. And on top of that, things got even uglier when third baseman Troy Glaus and first baseman Albert Pujols each made fielding errors. All in all, Milwaukee scored 5 times in the 8th inning on only 3 hits, two of which were singles.
All in all, the Brewers put together 12 hits, 9 of which came in the 7th inning on. And despite losing by 6, the Cardinals actually out-hit Milwaukee, collecting 13 hits. The 2009 NL MVP, Albert Pujols, had another fine day at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two doubles, two runs scored and a RBI.
The Cardinals will try to regroup and take on the Brewers again on Saturday. Kyle Lohse (6-9, 4.84 ERA) will start for St. Louis against Carlos Villanueva (3-10, 5.24 ERA) for Milwaukee. Game time is set for 12:10 CT.
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