3 surprise performers in Cardinals series split with Brewers

The St. Louis Cardinals’ first road trip fell on the home Opening series for the Milwaukee Brewers.

They got off to a shaky start against the Milwaukee Brewers, who were celebrating their home opener weekend, but the St. Louis Cardinals got back up and split the series.

Thursday, Cardinals 1, Brewers 5

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina’s 306th start together was not great. Wainwright pitched 4.1 innings giving up eight hits, two walks, and four earned runs, including a home run to Omar Narvaez. He was able to get seven strikeouts.

Drew VerHagen looked good in his Cardinals debut. He pitched 2.2 innings, giving up one hit, one walk and an earned run. He had three strikeouts, including nine swing-and-misses. Aaron Brooks pitched one inning, striking out one.

The Cardinals’ lone run of the game came in the eighth inning. Tommy Edman knocked his second home run of the season on a fly to center field off of Jandel Gustave.

Friday, Cardinals 10, Brewers 1

The Cardinals got things going early on Friday. In the first inning, Harrison Bader singled to center field scoring Tyler O’Neill and Nolan Arenado. Andrew Knizner singled to right field to score Lars Nootbaar and Bader.

In the second, Paul Goldschmidt doubled to right field, scoring Dylan Carlson. Arenado singled to left field, scoring Goldschmidt.

In the fifth inning, Tommy Edman knocked his third home run of the season on a fly to right-center field, scoring Edmundo Sosa. The home run traveled 395-feet at 101.3 mph.

In the ninth inning, Arenado hit his fourth home run of the season on a line drive to left-center field, scoring O’Neill. The blast traveled 382-feet at 108.1 mph.

Miles Mikolas earned his first win of the season as he pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three hits, a walk and one earned run. He was able to strike out seven batters.

Please note Albert Pujols warming him up between innings. It’s awesome.

Nick Wittgren finished out the seventh inning, only giving up a hit. Andre Pallante looked impressive going two innings, giving up two hits and a walk, while striking out one.

Saturday, Cardinals 2, Brewers 1

It was a close, exciting game. It was nice to see the Cardinals keep cool under pressure and secure the victory which was the first victory of the season for Steven Matz.

With Tyler O’Neill and Nolan Arenado on board in the fourth inning, Paul DeJong knocked a double to left field to score O’Neill.

In the eighth inning, Corey Dickerson singled to right field, scoring Arenado.

Matz, now 1-1, pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three hits and striking out five.

Ryan Helsley looked sharp in his third-of-an-inning of work, striking out the side. Genesis Cabrera pitched 1.2 innings, giving up a home run to Victor Caratini. He did strike out two batters. Giovanny Gallegos earned his second save of the season, going 1.1 innings, giving up one hit, and striking out one.

Sunday, Cardinals 5, Brewers 6

Albert Pujols hit his second home run of the season, the 681st of this career, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

In the third inning, Pujols a homer off of Aaron Ashby that traveled 426-feet at 109.9 mph. Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill scored on the blast.

It’s still thrilling to see him hit a home run. Check out this young man’s reaction to catching the homer.

In the eighth inning, Tommy Edman singled to center field to score Arenado. With the bases then loaded, Corey Dickerson walked to score Lars Nootbaar.

Dakota Hudson got the loss Sunday. He didn’t seem comfortable in his three innings of work, giving up three hits, four runs, three of which were earned and two walks. He did strike out two batters.

T.J. McFarland pitched an inning, giving up one hit, and two walks and he did strike out one.

Jordan HIcks topped out at 102.1 mph in his two innings of work. He have up to one hit and walked one while striking out three.

Drew VerHagen pitched an inning in which he walked two, gave up two hits, struck out one but gave up two earned runs. Kodi Whitley pitched the final inning.

Pujols’ home run did provide some hope but it just wasn’t enough after pitching that included the return of Cardinal pitchers walking too many. The team also left eight runners on base and was two for nine with runners in scoring position. It was incredibly frustrating to watch as we all hoped the ails of last season wouldn’t return.

The Cardinals head to Miami to play the Marlins. They will have an off today before resuming play Tuesday night. Let’s discuss the top performers from this series.