Brewers: Jason Rogers comes up grand, Crew slams Cards late
By Phil Watson
All those things baseball aficionados like to say about the game never being over until it’s over?
They are all true. Every single one of them. Jason Rogers and the Milwaukee Brewers proved it again Sunday, roaring back from a 3-1 deficit in the top of the ninth inning to score seven runs in an 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
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Rogers helped fuel the charge with a pinch-hit grand slam off Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal (2-4), who failed spectacularly in his bid for a club-record 48th save.
Rosenthal gave up a single to Shane Peterson, hit Martin Maldonado with a pitch, walked pinch-hitter Jonathan Lucroy and then served up Rogers’ fourth home run of the season as the Brewers stunned the Cardinals by taking a 5-3 lead.
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The Brewers weren’t done. Logan Schafer singled off right-hander Seth Maness, went to second on Jean Segura’s sacrifice bunt and, after Adam Lind was intentionally walked, Khris Davis crushed a three-run homer—his second of the game—to nearly the same spot in center field where Rogers’ homer went moments earlier.
Rogers’ shot was just the fifth pinch-hit grand slam in club history and the first in more than 20 years, since Matt Mieske turned the trick against the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 3, 1995. The others were by Joe Lahoud in 1973, Darrell Porter in 1974 and Don Money in 1977.
“I’m just trying to finish up strong, really,” Rogers told MLB.com. “I’ve been getting a few more at-bats, which kind of helps, but just doing whatever it takes to help the team win.”
Rogers has been white-hot down the stretch, hitting .479 in his last 26 games and leading the team with 13 pinch hits.
The ninth-inning thunder marked the first time all season the Brewers (66-90) won a game they trailed after eight innings and got right-hander Jeremy Jeffress off the hook.
Jeffress hadn’t surrendered a home run since June 23 so, of course, he gave up two in a four-pitch span in the seventh inning, with Matt Carpenter breaking a 1-1 tie with his 27th of the season and Stephen Piscotty following with his seventh of the year to put the Cardinals up 3-1.
Davis’ first homer off right-hander John Lackey gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.
The Cardinals (98-58) tied it in the fourth against right-hander Kyle Lohse on an RBI groundout by Tony Cruz.
Piscotty had an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth against left-hander Will Smith. Francisco Rodriguez had to come on with two outs, getting Brandon Moss to fly out to end the game. It was Rodriguez’s 37th save of the season to preserve a win awarded to rookie David Goforth (1-0), who worked around a walk with a strikeout in a scoreless eighth inning.
Right-hander Tyler Cravy started for the Brewers and came out after three innings and 51 pitches having allowed one hit and three walks with two strikeouts.
Lohse went two innings, surrendering a run on four hits. Corey Knebel allowed a hit and struck out one in the sixth before Jeffress gave up the two long balls in the seventh.
Schafer was 3-for-5 for the Brewers while Davis was 2-for-4 with a pair of homers.
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Milwaukee finished the season 6-13 against the Cardinals.
The Brewers will be off Monday before opening their final road series of the season Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. Central against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
Right-hander Jorge Lopez will make his major-league debut in that game. He was named Milwaukee’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year after going 12-5 with a 2.26 ERA and 1.095 WHIP at Double-A Biloxi, striking out 137 hitters in 143.1 innings.
Right-hander Tyson Ross (10-11, 3.17) takes the ball for San Diego. He is 3-1 in four career starts against the Brewers with a 3.33 ERA and 1.233 WHIP in 24.1 innings, striking out 20. Ross beat the Brewers at Miller Park on Aug. 3, giving up three runs—two earned—on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings of a 13-5 victory.
He is 0-2 in his last four starts, including taking the loss Tuesday, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings with two walks and 11 strikeouts in a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.
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