Paul Goldschmidt Hits Three Home Runs, Leads Cardinals to a 9-5 Win in Milwaukee

In his second game donning a new shade of red, Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt launched three home runs on Friday to propel the club to a 9-5 victory over the Brewers.

Goldschmidt started his memorable night with a two-run blast in the top of the first inning off Brewers starter Freddy Peralta. This opened what was a back-and-forth affair between the divisional foes. Leading off the sixth with the scored knotted at four, Goldschmidt took Taylor Williams deep and tallied the team’s fifth (and go-ahead, at the time) run.

But that wasn't all for #46.

With the Cardinals up to a 6-4 lead in the seventh, Goldschmidt launched a two-out, two-run laser against Jacob Barnes to pad St. Louis’s lead and become the first player in the Majors to hit three home runs in a single game this season - all on the 29th day of March.

Goldschmidt absolutely muscled his three home runs. The first, shown below, had a 105 MPH exit velocity. His second was 105.8, and the third topped out at 106.4. Goldschmidt’s average exit velocity with the Diamondbacks was 90.8 in 2018.

After starter Jack Flaherty pitched into the fifth, the Cardinals turned to a cast of four relievers to record the last 14 outs of the game. John Gant entered first and worked 1 2/3 innings before Alex Reyes worked the seventh. Reyes, in his first game in the Majors since May, needed only 12 pitches (seven strikes) to retire Orlando Arcia, Ben Gamel, and Lorenzo Cain.

In his Cardinals debut, Andrew Miller surrendered a home run to Christian Yelich to start the eighth, but the team’s lone left-handed hurler rebounded to finish the frame. Manager Mike Shildt then went to Jordan Hicks in the ninth, and the 22-year-old did not disappoint. Hicks whiffed Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal and got Gamel to fly out to center field to end the game.

The Cardinals and Brewers will be back in action at Miller Park on Saturday. Brandon Woodruff will go for Milwaukee, and St. Louis right-hander Dakota Hudson will make the first start of his career. This contest is set for 6:10 PM Central time.