St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals lose in Milwaukee on walk-off

The St. Louis Cardinals came just a few outs short as the Milwaukee Brewers won in walk-off fashion Tuesday night, 5-4.

It was a tough loss for the St. Louis Cardinals, who held a lead for all but the final two batters of the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals started this game off with a bang as Dexter Fowler took the first pitch over the fence for a home run. Tommy Pham then followed with his first home run of the season. It was the first time the St. Louis Cardinals started a game with back-to back home runs since April 26, 2013 vs the Pirates (Matt Carpenter and Carlos Beltran).

Jack Flaherty was almost looking like he was off to a similar rocky start as Brewer starter Chase Anderson, but he managed to fight back and strike out Lorenzo Cain, who came into the game riding a torrid start to the season. He had some problems with establishing his fastball in the zone early, but made up for it with elite slider movement and solid location.

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Marcell Ozuna entered the long bomb fray in the top of the third with a two run shot that gave the Flaherty and the St. Louis Cardinals a comfortable 4-0 lead. Flaherty rode that lead into the fifth, despite racking up 77 pitches through four innings.

After letting two batters on with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Flaherty executed, in arguably the most important juncture of the game, striking out Lorenzo Cain. After allowing a Chrstian Yelich RBI single that barely got past the outstretched glove of Paul DeJong, Flaherty quickly retired Ryan Braun with men on the corners to extinguish the possible rally.

The Cardinals continued to cruise until the eighth inning, when Tyler Lyons entered the game. He gave up a double to Yellich, forcing Lyons out after just 1 out.  Dominic Leone came in to relieve Lyons for a five out save. Leone allowed another run to score, but held on to the lead entering the ninth.

After getting the Brewers to their last strike, Leone gave up back-to-back home runs to Yelich and Braun to end the game. It was the first time in baseball history a game started and ended with back-to-back home runs. Unfortunately, the St. Louis Cardinals were on the wrong side of history.

Cardinals Report Card: April 3, 2018

Next: The week that was at Rebird Rants

How big is this loss for the Cardinals? Does this say something about Tyler Lyons current place in the bullpen? How excited are you for guys like Gregerson and Holland to enter the fray? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.