Carlos Gomez injury overshadows Milwaukee Brewers loss at St. Louis
By Phil Watson
The Milwaukee Brewers couldn’t come up with the big hit in a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, but the bigger question going forward is how much time All-Star center fielder Carlos Gomez will have to miss because of an injured hamstring.
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Gomez strained his right hamstring running to first base in the ninth inning and, at the bare minimum, will not play in Thursday afternoon’s series finale in St. Louis.
“I’ll have to wait until [Thursday] morning and see how it is,” Gomez told MLB.com. “Right now, it’s sore. [Thursday] is the day that we know if it’s going to be a couple of days or a lot.”
Gomez went 0-for-5 on Wednesday and felt a twinge in his leg while beating out the back end of a double play attempt.
Wily Peralta (0-1) struggled through his second start of the season, giving up four runs on 10 hits with a walk and just one strikeout in five innings. But the bullpen kept the Brewers (2-6) close, as Neal Cotts worked a spotless sixth inning and Michael Blazek went two perfect frames.
Milwaukee went into the ninth against Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal down by three, but did send the tying run to the plate.
Pinch-hitter Logan Schafer led off the inning with a walk and was forced on Gomez’s grounder. After the injury delay, pinch-runner Kyle Lohse (yes, Kyle Lohse) advanced to second on a wild pitch before Jonathan Lucroy flew out to left.
Ryan Braun singled in Lohse with a line drive to right, but Adam Lind flew out to center to end it as Rosenthal got his third save.
Lance Lynn (1-1) got the win, but labored through 99 pitches in just five innings, allowing a run on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Milwaukee left 11 runners on base and was 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position as the big hit eluded the Brewers all night.
Apr 15, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun (8) catches a ball hit by St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (not pictured) during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Three of the runners left stranded were at third base.
St. Louis (4-3) jumped on Peralta early, scoring twice in the bottom of the first on Matt Holliday’s two-run single after Matt Carpenter led off with a single and moved up to third on a double by Jason Heyward.
The Brewers got a run back in the third. Lucroy worked a one-out walk, went to second on Braun’s single to right and, after Lind struck out, Aramis Ramirez got a run home with a soft flare to center that fell in for a hit.
But Yadier Molina had a run-scoring single and Carpenter cracked an RBI double in the third to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.
Apr 15, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez (16) hits a one run single off of St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (not pictured) during the third inning at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated Milwaukee 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
“Six pitches, you’re just warming up,” Peralta told MLB.com. “You look up at the scoreboard and two runs in. … They were swinging early at everything, but I wasn’t executing my pitches. If I execute, it doesn’t matter if they swing early or not.”
Manager Ron Roenicke followed the numbers, starting Gerardo Parra in left field over Khris Davis. Parra came into the game 8-for-17 lifetime against Lynn, while Davis is 1-for-12.
But Roenicke said it was still a tough call because of the date. April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, when the sport celebrates the legacy of the man who broke baseball’s racial barriers in 1947.
“I talked to him about it,” Roenicke told MLB.com. “He was good. He gave me good answers.”
As has become customary on April 15, all uniformed personnel wore No. 42, which was retired throughout baseball in 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s debut.
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Roenicke, who came through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization at a player in the 1970s and 1980s, knows the legacy well.
“The history of not just Jackie, but other guys in the game, today’s player really doesn’t know as much as they have in the past,” Roenicke said. “I’m not a big history guy on baseball, but I know a lot because everybody in my era knew about it. You were told stuff and you cared about it. …
“I heard a lot about Jackie and I knew his family because his family was there a lot. Also when I came up, John Roseboro was there, ‘Campy’ [Roy Campanella] was there. I got a good history lesson when I was with the Dodgers. That was really important to me and all the players, to listen to what they had to go through. It’s hard today to think that really happened.”
Lucroy, Ramirez and Jean Segura each was 2-for-4 for Milwaukee and Braun finished 2-for-5.
Mike Fiers (0-1, 9.00) is scheduled to start Thursday’s series finale, scheduled for a 12:45 p.m. start. John Lackey (0-0, 6.00) gets the ball for the Cardinals.