Yelich's Seventh-Inning Double Lifts Brewers Past Cardinals, 4-3
Jacob Misiorowski threw 7.0 innings, allowed 3 hits, walked nobody, and struck out 11 — and Milwaukee still needed a seventh-inning Christian Yelich double to escape St. Louis with a 4-3 win. The story of the night was a pitching performance that should have been untouchable getting undermined by two Cardinals home runs, only for Yelich and company to claw it back anyway.
The Cardinals struck first and struck hard. Jordan Walker homered to left in the first inning — 386 feet, two runs, and suddenly the win probability had swung from 41% to 62% in St. Louis's favor. That's the kind of early punch that buries road teams, and for two innings it looked like it might do exactly that to Milwaukee. Then the Brewers went to work in the third. Joey Ortiz doubled to left to score Pratt, cutting the deficit to one. One batter later, Yelich singled to center to score Ortiz and tie it at two. The Cardinals answered immediately — Ivan Herrera homered to left (378 feet) to put St. Louis back on top, 3-2. Three runs, three hits, one inning, and the game was right back where it started: Milwaukee chasing.
Misiorowski, for his part, was dominant in a way that appears almost unfair to waste on a one-run loss. Eleven strikeouts, zero walks, three hits across seven innings — that's a performance that wins most ballgames. The Cardinals simply made the most of their limited opportunities, both of their extra-base hits leaving the yard. Bruce Zimmermann lasted five innings for St. Louis, giving up six hits and three earned runs, and Justin Bruihl followed with two clean innings. Milwaukee's offense kept pecking.
The Brewers tied it in the sixth when Garrett Mitchell singled to center to score Jake Bauers, with Mitchell advancing to second on the play. The Cardinals challenged the call on the field; it was upheld. Milwaukee 3, St. Louis 3. Then came the seventh. Yelich doubled to left — his third hit of the night in five at-bats — scoring Pratt and moving Ortiz to third. That was the game-winner, and it held. Aaron Ashby closed things out with a clean inning of relief. Yelich finished 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, Ortiz went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Bauers added two hits and a run. Milwaukee looks like a team that knows how to manufacture a win even when the opponent keeps answering — and Misiorowski's 11-strikeout effort deserved every bit of the result it finally got.