St. Louis Cardinals: A frustrating loss chills the Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night was possibly the most frustrating of the Mike Matheny era.

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, 5-4, can only be described as frustrating. Starting with Dexter Fowler‘s attempt to extend a single into a double in the first inning, to Greg Holland‘s Cardinal disappointing debut in the tenth inning, the game was filled with mistakes and miscues by the home team.

After the Fowler base running miscue in the first inning, Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was called for a questionable balk in the second inning. With the Brewers leading 1-0, this allowed Domingo Santana to advance to second. Santana then scored on a Orlando Arcia double, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

Leading off in the second inning, Marcell Ozuna made the second base running miscue of the game by trying to stretch a double into a triple, that resulted in an out.

However, the St. Louis Cardinals finally got on the scoreboard in the third inning. Kolten Wong lead off with a walk and was bunted to second by Mikolas, then scored on Fowler’s single. Tommy Pham and Matt Carpenter walked to load the bases for Ozuna, who singled in Fowler and Pham. That gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead going into the fourth inning.

But in the fourth inning an error by Fowler in right field, gave the Brewers an additional run. Travis Shaw started the inning with a single, followed by Eric Sogard‘s single. However, Dexter Fowler didn’t field the ball cleanly and the runners advanced to second and third. Both runners later scored on Manny Pina‘s single, that gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead.

Miles Mikolas was taken out during the seventh inning after a Jose Martinez miscue at first that allowed Jonathan Villar to reach base. Mikolas pitched 6.1 inning, threw 100 pitches, and was unfairly charged with four earned runs.

This score held until the bottom of the ninth inning. With Matt Albers trying to close the game for Milwaukee, the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs. Greg Garcia pitch hits in the nine hole and pops out. Fowler manages to hit a fly ball to center field that scores pitch runner Luke Weaver and tie the game at 4-4. Tommy Pham then grounds out to end the inning.

Greg Holland then comes in the tenth to make his first appearance as a St. Louis Cardinal. He then walks Shaw and Santana. Sogard then bunts to advance the runners and Holland intentionally walks Pina. With bases loaded and one out, Holland then walks Arcia, which brings in Shaw and the Brewers lead 5-4.

Bud Norris is then brought in to get the final two outs of the tenth inning, and the Cardinals fail to score in the bottom of the inning.

Takeaways from Monday’s game:

The Bad:

– The base running miscues by Fowler and Ozuna probably cost the Cardinals additional runs.

-The fielding miscue by Fowler in the fourth inning gave the Brewers an additional run.

–Mike Matheny‘s game management comes into question again by running out of position players in the tenth inning.

-Was it a good idea for Matheny to use Greg Holland in a tie game in the tenth? It looks like Holland wasn’t close to being ready.

-The balk called on Miles Mikolas was questionable and gave the Brewers another run.

-Jose Martinez injured his ankle in the ninth inning.

The Good:

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–Paul DeJong came out of his 0-11 slump with a double in the fourth inning.

-Kolten Wong seems to have come out of his early season batting woes and went 1-2 and had two walks.

-Miles Mikolas looked steady. Fowler’s error and Martinez’s miscue at first weren’t his fault and the balk appears to be just a bad call. The four earned runs charged to him seem to be unfair.

-Bud Norris had another good outing and maybe turning some opinions around about his signing.

-Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell and Yadier Molina didn’t get into a fight.

In conclusion, it was a frustrating game to watch and one most fans feel like the Cardinals should have won. Nevertheless, it was only the tenth game of the season, and pennants aren’t won or lost in April.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers play again on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Carlos Martinez (1-1, 2.84) vs Brent Suter (1-1, 6.30 ).

The St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night was possibly the most frustrating of the Mike Matheny era.

Takeaways from Monday’s game:

The Bad:

The Good:

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