Brewers: Tyler Cravy great in debut, but loses to Cardinals 1-0
By Phil Watson
Tyler Cravy made his major-league debut for the Milwaukee Brewers a great one on Tuesday night, allowing only four hits and two walks over six innings while striking out six.
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But the one run he gave up in the second inning hung over his head the rest of the night as the punchless Brewers were unable to get anything going against St. Louis Cardinals’ right-hander Lance Lynn in a 1-0 loss at Busch Stadium.
The teams have exchanged 1-0 victories in the first two games of the three-game series. It’s the second time the Brewers have split 1-0 wins in consecutive games, having also done so against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Sept. 20-21.
Cravy’s start was the longest for a Brewer pitcher making his big-league debut since Steve Woodard went eight innings against the Toronto Blue Jays—and Roger Clemens—in July 1997.
It’s not like Milwaukee (18-35) had a plethora of chances against Lynn and company—the Brewers were 0-for-3 on the night with runners in scoring position.
A positive sign came from catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who was 2-for-4 in his second game back from the disabled list. It was just his second multi-hit game of the season and raised his slash line to .151/.220/.189.
Lucroy was impressed with the 25-year-old Cravy, who threw just 87 pitches before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth inning.
“He has a little funky delivery, has some good arm action going on,” Lucroy told MLB.com. “It’s because he steps across his body and cross-fires. He has some arm-side run. It shoots in there pretty good.”
St. Louis (34-18) got its only run on a broken-bat single by former Brewer Mark Reynolds in the bottom of the second. The two-out hit came after Randal Grichuk doubled to left.
“I expected to be a lot more nervous,” Cravy told MLB.com. “I think after the first inning I calmed down a little bit and just really tried to execute pitches and not overthrow.”
Lynn (4-4) scattered five hits and a walk over 7.2 innings, striking out five. Trevor Rosenthal got into some trouble, allowing two hits in the ninth, before getting Aramis Ramirez to bounce into a game-ending double play.
For Rosenthal it was his 16th save.
Michael Blazek worked the eighth for Milwaukee, firing a 1-2-3 inning against his former club and striking out one.
The scoring opportunities were limited, for sure.
Jean Segura got to second base in the top of the third after a leadoff single and Cravy’s sacrifice bunt with one out, but Carlos Gomez fanned to end the inning.
In the sixth, Gomez reached on a two-out bunt single and Gerardo Parra walked before Ryan Braun went down on strikes.
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That left the ninth, when Braun led off with an infield single and moved to third on a single by Lucroy with one out. But Ramirez grounded to third for the game-ending twin killing.
“It was the same game,” manager Craig Counsell said, referring to Milwaukee’s 1-0 win the previous night. “Almost to the ninth inning, it was the same game. … Our guy doesn’t deserve a loss pitching like that.”
Cravy’s reward for his outstanding effort as the first starter for the Brewers to work at least seven innings since May 19? He was optioned back to Triple-A Colorado Springs Wednesday morning so the club could add outfielder Shane Peterson to the active roster.
The series concludes Wednesday afternoon at 12:45 p.m., with Jimmy Nelson (2-5, 3.90 ERA) facing right-hander John Lackey (3-3, 2.83).
Nelson is 0-3 with a 10.24 ERA in three appearances, two of them starts, against the Cardinals. It will be his first game against St. Louis this season. Lackey, a long-time American Leaguer, is 3-1 against Milwaukee in four career starts, with a 3.86 ERA. That includes seven shutout innings in a 4-0 win against the Brewers on April 16.
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