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Cardinals @ Brewers Recap 4.26 - Cards drop frustrating finale

Reynolds homer, Stanley debut, good bullpen work bright spots in frustrating Cardinal loss.

By WyoCardsFan
Heyward leaves game with groin injury
Heyward leaves game with groin injury
Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

St. Louis Cardinals @ Milwaukee Brewers

Lance Lynn vs. Mike Fiers
1:10 p.m.
Miller Park- Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Today's Lineups -

Some News -

Things we were looking for -

The Cards look to sweep the series as they face some adversity with the injury to Wainwright.  Both teams today feature "Sunday lineups", according to Rick Horton.  On the Cardinals' side, Mark Reynolds makes his first start in left field and Peter Bourjos makes his first start overall, manning centerfield.  The Brewers counter without their two (arguably) best (arguably) healthy hitters in Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez.  Also, it's Wily Peralta bobblehead day at Miller Park.  Cody Stanley was called up to take Wainwright's place on the roster.

Things that happened -

Top halves -

The Cardinals started things off with a couple two-out hits from Jhonny Peralta (ground ball single to left) and Matt Adams (line drive single to center), but left them on base as Mark Reynolds drove a fly ball to the warning track to end the inning.

With two outs in the second, the 8-and-9 batters got things going for the Birds.  Tony Cruz singled and then Lance Lynn showed off his superior batsmanship:

Matt Carpenter worked a full count walk to load the bases.  Jason Heyward left 'em all on base, though, grounding out to end the inning.

In the third, Peralta reached via walk, Adams singled to center, and Kolten Wong singled to right to load the bases.  Peralta probably should have taken an extra base during either the Adams or Wong hit, but instead, he hung around and got stranded on third without scoring a run.  Fiers struck out Bourjos and Cruz to strand 'em full.

Lynn stuck out on a half swing to begin the fourth.  Matt Carpenter struck out looking at this pitch:

Jay singled and got to second on an errant pick off throw.  He came around to score the Cards' first run on a Peralta line drive single to left field. Brewers lead 3-1.

Reynolds absolutely demolished a homer to deep, deep left field to lead off the fifth.  According to FSMW, the ball left his bat at 108 m.p.h.  That was it for Mike Fiers.  His final line: 4.0+ IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 89 pitches thrown.

Michael Blazek took over.  He walked Peter Bourjos, who then went first-to-third on a groundout to the shortstop.  Unfortunately, Lance Lynn came up with two outs, and wasn't able to replicate his first at bat of the day, leaving Peter standing on third.  Brewers lead 3-2.

Blazek blazed through the sixth, allowing a leadoff single to Jay but nothing else.

Jeremy Jeffress pitched the seventh for the Brewers.  He did his job and got through the inning, only allowing a base hit to Bourjos.

Cody Stanley made his major league debut in the eighth.  He made a good first impression, working the count and collecting a line drive single to right center for his first big league hit off of Jonathan Broxton.  Jay followed with a single, and Peralta with a walk to load the bases.  Stanley scored on a fielder's choice groundout from Matt Adams.  Brewers up 6-3.

Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth.  Herrera made a nice play to steal a hit from his counterpart, Wong.  Bourjos flew out to left-center.  Cruz flew out to left to end the game.  Brewers win 6-3.

Bottom halves -

Logan Schafer struck a Lance Lynn breaking ball just inside the bag at third for a double.  Adam Lind took a walk on four straight pitch-around-looking pitches.  They were left on base as Lance struck out the side.

Elian Herrera reached on a fly ball that just sneaked over Peralta's glove in the second.  Heyward made a nice diving play coming in on a liner from Hector Gomez.  The inning also featured a crazy play where Carp couldn't quite come up with a liner that hit his glove, but Peralta was able to field it and retire the baserunner at second for a 5-6-4 force out.

In the third, Schafer reached on a comebacker to the mound that Lynn wasn't able to make a play on behind his back.  That was the first of a string of unfortunate events for the good guys.  Schafer proved to be the first run of the game, knocked in by Gerardo Para triple to the corner in right.  On that play, Jason Heyward gave us a scare by coming up limping after getting the ball back to the infield.  He was removed from the game in favor of Jon Jay.  On the very next pitch, Tony Cruz' bell got rung a bit from a foul ball (he was fine).  Next, Adam Lind put another couple runs on the board, smashing a homer to center field to go ahead 3-0.

Lance tossed a nice easy 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.

The Brewers knocked Lance around in the fifth with a trio of doubles and a single.  Parra knocked one to the left-center wall.  A couple batters later, Khris Davis traded places with him, a rocket ground rule double to center.  Herrera kept the train going, this time down the left field line.  Gomez knocked in the Brewers' sixth run, singling to left.  Brewers up 6-2. That was it for Lynn.  His final line: 5.0 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 106 pitches thrown.

Carlos Villanueva checked into the game in the sixth.  He cruised through the sixth in 1-2-3 style.

In the seventh, yet another injury scare as a deep fly ball to left carried Reynolds right into the wall, knocking his head hard and falling into a heap onto the warning track.  The trainer and Matheny came to check on him, and ultimately Mark was able to stay in the game.  The very next batter, Mark had to prove that he was ok.  He made a very nice catch going back on a fly ball off the bat of Lind.

Mitch Harris pitched the eighth.  10 pitches, three outs.  Very impressive.

Final Notes -

  • Lance's line probably looks worse than he actually pitched.  He struggled with command, especially early on, and struggled with an inconsistent strike zone.  In his fifth and final inning, he was getting hit hard, some of them on good pitches, and some on bad pitches.
  • They called Heyward's injury a "groin strain" and that taking him out was precautionary.
  • Congratulations Cody Stanley!
  • Jon Jay went 3-3 after checking in to replace injured Jason Heyward.

  • Fangraphs
  • Gamenotes: Cards | Brewers

Looking ahead -

Tune in tomorrow (on Chris Carpenter's, Enos Slaughter's, Rogers Hornsby's and my birthday) to watch Cole Hamels and the Phillies come to Busch Stadium to take on John Lackey and the Cards.  The fun starts at 7:15 CT.


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