Jaime Garcia goes 8 innings, Cardinals sweep Brewers

Jaime Garcia pitched 8 solid innings for the St. Louis Cardinals today as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-1 to sweep them this weekend.
May 5, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Image Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Garcia threw 99 pitches, 72 of which were strikes. He allowed 8 hits, one run, one walk, and struck out 3. After going 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA in April, the pitcher has lowered his ERA to 2.25 with today’s win. This is the second consecutive start for Garcia in which he went 8 innings.

The Cardinals offense got started in the second inning when they scored 6 runs. Usually, the Cardinals wait until the 6th inning to do a number to the opponent but better to get things started early.

I’m surprised that Brewers starting pitcher Marco Estrada lasted as long as he did. Despite a coaching visit to the mound in the second inning, he managed to make it to the start of the fourth inning.

In the top of the second, there were two consecutive RBI walks to Shane Robinson and Matt Holliday. Allen Craig would follow that up with a bases-clearing double before Yadier Molina‘s single would drive him in.

David Freese started and ended the inning with outs, just two outs in his 0 for 5 day at the plate. He’s not quite out of the slump yet.

Holliday hit a 2-run home run in the fourth inning. After Craig flied out, the Brewers pulled the plug on Estrada’s misery but the damage to his ERA was too little, too late.

The only damaging mistake for Garcia came in the bottom frame of the 5th inning. Alfredo Figaro singled on a grounder Daniel Descalso, scoring Carlos Gomez.

In the top of the sixth inning, Craig tripled to score Holliday from first.

In the eighth inning, Tony Cruz, pinch-hitting for Molina, singled and drove in Jon Jay.

The Cardinals have Monday off before heading to Wrigley Field to play the Cubs in a Tuesday-Wednesday series.