Brewers: 5th inning fatal as Cards blank Crew
By Phil Watson
Rookie Tyler Cravy had thrown four shutout innings at the St. Louis Cardinals in his return to the rotation Friday night at Miller Park.
Maybe he should have stopped there.
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The Cardinals rocked Cravy (0-3) in the fifth, hanging six runs on the rookie that was more than enough to power St. Louis (70-39) to a 6-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers (47-64).
The Redbirds had managed three singles and a walk against Cravy through the first four innings, but the wheels came off in the fifth.
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Within four pitches, St. Louis had a 1-0 lead as Brandon Moss and Stephen Piscotty cracked doubles on back-to-back offerings. Matt Carpenter doubled to right to make it a 2-0 game and Cravy walked Kolten Wong.
After a hard lineout to right for the second out, Jason Heyward grounded a single up the middle to score Carpenter.
Randal Grichuk followed with a three-run shot to right-center, his 14th homer of the season, and it was a touchdown for the Cardinals in the inning—6-0.
“I thought he was really good the first four innings,” manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com of Cravy. “Then it was just some balls in the middle of the plate.”
Right-hander Lance Lynn (9-6) danced in and out of trouble all night, walking four and allowing six hits in his six innings of work, but he struck out seven and induced a double play. Former Brewer Carlos Villanueva came on to work three perfect innings in relief to pick up his second save of the season, striking out three.
Cravy replaced veteran Kyle Lohse in the rotation. Lohse worked the final two innings Friday night, giving up one hit and striking out one in his first relief appearance in almost six years, since Sept. 8, 2009, with the Cardinals. Coincidentally enough, it was at Miller Park, against the Brewers.
“It’s obviously not the situation you want to be in,” Lohse told MLB.com. “But I felt good for myself to get on a mound and get out of there without giving any more runs up.”
Cravy gave up six runs on eight hits with two walks and struck out four in five innings. Tyler Thornburg worked a perfect sixth and Neal Cotts allowed a hit and had a strikeout in a scoreless seventh.
Aug 7, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun (8) walks back to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
The Brewers had runners at first and second with two outs in the first but Khris Davis—who had a pair of three-run homers in a 10-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday—struck out to end the frame.
Milwaukee botched a chance to score in the second. With runners at the corners and one out, Cravy put down a bunt. Elian Herrera advanced to second, but Shane Peterson wasn’t able to score and Cravy was called out at first on replay review after St. Louis challenged the initial safe call.
Scooter Gennett popped up to end the inning.
The Brewers had runners at first and second with two outs once again in the fourth, but with Cravy coming up. The rookie bounced out to third to end the frame.
With the bases loaded in the sixth, Logan Schafer struck out while batting for Thornburg.
Peterson was 3-for-4 for Milwaukee and Herrera was 2-for-3 with a walk. Ryan Braun had the Brewers’ only other hit.
Milwaukee is now 3-7 against the Cardinals this season.
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The teams face off at 6:10 p.m. Saturday, with right-hander Wily Peralta (2-6, 4.55 ERA) taking on left-hander Jaime Garcia (3-4, 1.98).
Peralta is 4-6 in 11 career starts against St. Louis, with a 4.43 ERA and 1.462 WHIP in 65 innings, posting 45 strikeouts. He is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA and 1.818 WHIP in two starts and 11 innings this season.
He was rocked his last time out, giving up six runs on eight hits in just 3.1 innings in a 13-5 loss to the Padres on Monday, walking three and striking out two.
Garcia is 6-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 1.198 WHIP in 14 appearances—13 starts—against Milwaukee, working 84.1 innings with 66 strikeouts. He lost his only start against them this season on June 1 despite surrendering just one run on three hits with four strikeouts in seven innings of a 1-0 Brewers win.
He had a no-decision on Sunday, working five innings and allowing a run on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts in a game the Cardinals won against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium, 3-2.
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