Piscotty delivers again as Cardinals top Brewers

It was a not so great start to the game, I looked down at my phone and saw that the Cardinals were down 3-0 after the first inning, after a rough first inning from Michael Wacha.

However, the Cardinals did not have plans to lose the opening game of the four game set with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee’s 3-0 lead lasted up until the bottom half of the fourth inning and until Jhonny Peralta stepped up with two runners on and nobody out, it felt like the Cardinals were going to get stymied by another rookie pitcher.

Thankfully, Mr. Peralta had other ideas. He promptly unloaded the bases on an 0-1 pitch from Taylor Jungmann. The three-run home run was Peralta’s 17th home run of the season and just his fourth of the second half. 

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Two pitches later, Stephen Piscotty deposited an 0-1 offering into deep left field. This was Piscotty’s sixth home run this season. This gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game at 4-3.

The very next inning with two outs and the bases loaded; Piscotty got to the Brewers’ Jungmann again with a two run single up the middle, giving the Cardinals a 6-3 lead and effectively ending Jungmann’s night.

The nightmare for the Brewers continued into the seventh inning; as Piscotty came up with two outs and the bases loaded again. Piscotty delivered a second pitch single into left field, driving in Jason Heyward, bringing the Cardinals lead to 7-3.

As prefaced before, Michael Wacha had a rough first inning allowing three runs on two walks and three hits. Wacha’s been less than reliable of late, he has a 3.47 ERA during the second half and a more concerning 2.10 K/BB (strikeout to walk rate) (Fangraphs) which has been trending downward from his first half rate of 3.58.

This is going to make the playoff rotation decisions even more interesting.

The Cardinals’ bullpen was able to nail down the final four frames of the game and secure a 7-3 win over the Brewers, bringing the Cardinals’ overall record to 97-56 (their highest W-L differential of the season) and brought their magic number to clinch the division down to six.

Tonight’s game will start at the normal time of 7:15 and will feature Carlos Martinez (14-7, 3.01 ERA) vs. Ariel Pena (2-0, 3.50 ERA).