The Brewers had a chance to pull into first place in the NL Central on Sunday afternoon, but failed to do so. The Cardinals scored four runs in the eighth inning to beat the Brewers 6-3 and take the series at Busch Stadium.
The Brewers had the lead for a majority of the game. Hunter Renfroe gave the Brewers the lead in the second inning with his 20th home run of the season with Andrew McCutchen on base. That gave the Brewers an early 2-0 lead.
Albert Pujols got the Cardinals on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run. The Brewers led 2-1 after two innings.
Aaron Ashby and Miles Mikolas were efficient on the mound for the Brewers and Cardinals respectively for much of the afternoon.
Neither team scored again until the sixth inning, when Tyler O’Neil hit his seventh home run of the season to tie the game at two.
Aaron Ashby exited after six innings. He gave up two runs, walked two batters, and struck out five. He earned a no-decision.
Miles Mikolas pitched through the eighth inning for St. Louis. He gave up two runs, struck out six Brewers batters, and didn’t walk anyone. He earned the win and improved to 9-9 on the season.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, things got ugly for Milwaukee. Taylor Rogers gave up two home runs and four total runs. Dylan Carlson hit a solo home run to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Albert Pujols with two outs and two runners on, hit his second home run of the day to extend the St. Louis lead to 6-2. Taylor Rogers took the loss for Milwaukee.
Rowdy Tellez hit his 24th home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough. The Brewers fell to the Cardinals 6-3. The Brewers now sit one and a half games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central.
The Brewers will come back to Milwaukee for a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting on Monday night at 7:10pm. The Dodgers have won 12 of their last 13 games.