Before the game, the Cards placed RHP Mike Mayers and OF Tyler O'Neill on the IL. The IL moves allowed them to recall UT Yairo Munoz and RHP Giovanny Gallegos. The Cards went down to a 4-man bench by optioning UT Drew Robinson and giving RHP Ryan Helsley his first crack in the big leagues. Check the fanpost below for more details. With Bader still day-to-day with a hamstring issue, Fowler got the start in CF. Unfortunately, Flaherty only lasted 2.2 IP, and allowed 5 runs with 2 HRs.

The Brewers started off the scoring when Lorenzo Cain led off the bottom of the 3rd by crushing a hanging slider to the 2nd deck of seats in left-center field to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Before that both teams had scattered 3 hits each. With 1 out, Braun grounded a slow roller for Carpenter at 3rd. He rushed towards it with his glove up, thinking the ball was going to hop up, but it went under his glove behind the bag, and the scorer inexplicably ruled it a double. Flaherty bore down and struck Moustakas out, but hung a slider to Grandal, who torched it into the 2nd deck in right field for a 2-run HR to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Shaw sharply grounded a base hit through the right side past the diving Wong. Aguilar lined a base hit up the middle, and Arcia walked to load the bases for the pitcher Woodruff. Woodruff sharply grounded a hanging slider for a double inside the 1st base line for a double to score Shaw and Aguilar and give the Brewers a 5-0 lead. That was the 37th pitch of the inning and 75th of the ballgame for Flaherty and he was done for the night after hanging his slider pretty much all game. With the Brewers having batted around, Shildt brought in Gallegos, who walked Cain on 4 pitches to load the bases for Yelich. Gallegos struck him out on 3 pitches to finally end the inning.

With 1 out in the 5th, Arcia checked his swing and sharply grounded a ball through the right side for a base hit. With 2 out, Cain lined a base hit to right. Shildt brought Helsley right into the fire for his major league debut to face Yelich. Gallegos had pitched a nice 2 IP with 2 H, 2 BB and 5 SO. Helsley had him down 0-2, but threw him a 91 mph changeup right down the middle, which Yelich crushed into the 2nd deck in right-center field for a 3-run HR to give the Brewers an 8-0 lead. The Cards finally got on the board in the 6th after DeJong walked with 1 out and Ozuna smoked a slider into the 2nd deck in left field for a 2-run HR to cut the Brewers’ lead to 8-2. We would get 2-out hits in the inning from Molina and Fowler, but after the Brewers brought in Chase Anderson in relief, Wong struck out to end the scoring.

Helsley got an infield single up the middle but was retired on Carpenter’s 3-6-3 double play. In the bottom of the 7th, Shildt decided to give Yadi some rest by switching him to 1st, bringing Wieters in the game to catch and taking Goldschmidt out. Alex Wilson came out to pitch the 8th for the Brewers. Munoz pinch hit for DeJong and squibbed a double just inside the 1st base line. He advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch. Ozuna walked to put runners at the corners. After Martinez struck out, Molina lined a base hit up the middle to score Munoz, cut the Brewers’ lead to 8-3 and move Ozuna to 3rd. After Fowler struck out, Wong lined a base hit to left-center to score Ozuna, move Molina to 2nd and cut the Brewers lead to 8-4. Gyorko pinch hit for Helsley, and struck out looking to end the inning. The last pitch was outside for sure, and one of the other called strikes looked like a ball.

Aside from the home run allowed to Yelich, Helsley made a nice debut with no other hits allowed in 2.1 IP, with 0 BB and 4 SO. Munoz stayed in the game at SS and Tyler Webb came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th, retiring the Brewers in order with a strikeout of Yelich. Lefty Alex Claudio pitched the 9th for the Brewers and retired us in order with 2 strikeouts.

Odds and Ends: The Cubs secured at least a series win over the Marlins with tonight's 4-0 win behind 7 shutout innings and 7 SO from Jose Quintana...The Pirates won 5-3 over Detroit in the 10th inning on Starling Marte's 2-run HR after Keone Kela blew the save in the 9th. Nick Kingham picked up his first save...AAA Memphis had a wild 8-7 win. With Helsley recalled to the big club, Genesis Cabrera got the start and was pulled after allowing 3 HRs in 3.2 IP. Adolis Garcia hit a 3-run HR in a 4-run 6th. After a fielding error and 2 walks, RF Johan Mieses, assigned to Memphis today from Springfield, hit a grand slam. Chasen Shreve almost blew the game for us in the 9th allowing 3 runs on 3 H and 2 BB. After John Fasola came in, Max Schrock committed a fielding error to pull the game to 8-7, but Fasola closed it out with his first save...Springfield lost 11-0, as starter Evan Kruczynski got bombed for the 3rd start 3 tries, allowing 7 H, 7 ER and 3 BB in 3.2 IP. He has a nifty 11.77 ERA...Palm Beach won 5-1 behind 6 strong IP from Alex Gagalde with only 2 H and 8 SO. OF Justin Toerner may just slap a lot of singles, and it's early, but his .462/.614/.641 line is still strong. OF Chase Pinder hit a bases-clearing double for 3 RBIs...Peoria got a 2-1 victory with Tommy Parsons throwing 8 IP, allowing 0 BB against 8 SO. LF Leandro Cedeno had both RBIs for the Chiefs, with a leadoff solo HR in the 5th and a walkoff single in the 9th to win it.