5 takeaways from Cardinals series win over the Brewers

The St. Louis Cardinals remain atop the NL Central after a dramatic Sunday winner for the Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers. 

The Cardinals took two of three over the Brewers to keep possession of first place in the NL Central standings.

The Cardinals won Friday 3-1. They lost Saturday 3-2. The Cardinals won Sunday 6-3.

The Cardinals are now 63-51 on the season and 1.5 games ahead of the Brewers in the Central. The weekend series results leave the Brewers 1.5 games out of NL Wild Card contention. The Brewers have had a tremendous decline since a surprise trade deadline that saw their All-Star closer, Josh Hader, get traded to San Diego.

In the meantime, the Cardinals made moves to bolster their pitching staff, and the team has locked in at the ideal time.

The Cardinals get Monday off and will host the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium for a three-game set. The Cardinals hope for better results than at Coors Field in Denver.

Let’s discuss some of the best moments from the Cardinals’ series win over the Brewers.

Albert Pujols puts on a show Sunday

Pujols hit two home runs off the Brewers, bringing the future Hall of Famer to 689 home runs for his career.

In the second inning, Pujols got the scoring started for the Cards. He knocked his ninth homer of the season on a fly to left field. The blast traveled 392 feet at 104.6 mph. The blast was the first he hit toward Big Mac Land in left field since 2009.

Tyler O’Neill broke out of a mini-slump in the sixth inning as he hit his seventh home run on a fly ball to center field. The home run traveled 420 feet at 109.6 mph.

Dylan Carlson got in on the home run show with his eighth homer on a fly to left field. The blast traveled 373 feet at 100.3 mph.

The big moment of the weekend happened moments later.

Paul Goldschmidt walked after a bloop single from Tyler O’Neill that got him to second base. Nolan Arenado struck out, and Pujols came to bat. Pujols launched his tenth home run of the season and 689th of his career on a fly to left-center field, scoring O’Neill and Goldschmidt. The homer traveled a staggering 443 feet at 108.9 mph.

Yadier Molina celebrated Pujols performance in … cool fashion.

It was an amazing moment, making Cardinals fans rejoice in his decision to return to the team where he started his amazing Hall of Fame career.

Montgomery continues to impress new team

Jordan Montgomery earned his second win as a Cardinal. He pitched six innings to kick off an important series with the Brewers. He gave up four hits and walked two but did strike out eight batters and induced 14 swings and misses.

Montgomery told MLB.com’s John Denton he’d been the right fit for the Cardinals because he’s been able to work with Yadier Molina, a 19-year veteran and a likely future Hall of Famer. He said the catcher restored his confidence in throwing his fastball inside to righties, which is something he had abandoned in New York.

Montgomery had this funny anecdote about trusting in Molina. Montgomery admitted to shaking off Molina, with Victor Caratini leading off the third inning. He said he threw an 0-2 changeup where he wanted, and Caratini got a hit.

Montgomery told Denton of Molina,  “After that, I was like, ‘I’m with you the rest of the night.’”

Of course! Good call, Jordan!

After pitching the seventh inning, Andre Pallante got his fifth hold of the season. He gave up two hits, and one earned run. This is impressive, considering he faced Luis Urias, Victor Caratini, Tyrone Taylor, and Christian Yelich. Pallante is an impressive young arm with a bulldog-like intensity. He will be exciting to watch for years to come.

Ryan Helsley earned his 12th save of the year but did so with two innings of work. He gave up two hits and struck out three while inducing eight swings and misses. Helsley’s max velocity hit 102.5 mph.

The team’s two big bats come up huge

Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado have been the Cardinals’ two big bats this season and came up big for the team Friday.

Paul Goldschmidt knocked a two-run shot to left-center field to drive in Dylan Carlson in the first inning. The home run was Goldschmidt’s 28th of the season. The blast traveled 429 feet at 108.7 mph.

The score remained 2-0 through the sixth inning when Arenado came to bat. Arenado knocked his 25th home run of the season on a fly to left field. The homer traveled 378 feet at 108.3 mph.

Adam Wainwright pitched a gem, but it wasn’t enough

Adam Wainwright was going into his 319th game with long-time battery mate Yadier Molina, just six starts away from breaking the record of 324 held by Detroit Tigers battery Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan.

Wainwright looked vintage in the start with his legendary 12-6 curveball on point, leading to eight strikeouts and 11 swings and misses. He had a confident swagger.

Wainwright even had a no-hitter through six innings. And then Andrew McCutchen broke it up with a single. It was sad to see happen as he was pitching an absolute gem. It looked like he would finally get that elusive no-hitter.

He did have a shutout going. Things were looking up in the seventh inning as Nolan Gorman doubled on a liner to center field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt. It was 1-0 going into the eighth inning.  With Kolten Wong grounding out, the inning was off to a good start.

And then Luis Urias came to bat. Urias knocked his 13th homer of the season on a fly to right-center field. But Wainwright remained in the game and finished out the ninth inning. With the game tied at one after nine, Wainwright exited the game in hopes of the Cardinals pulling off a victory in extra innings.

Giovanny Gallegos took over in the tenth inning. With Andrew McCutchen at second base as the ghost runner to start the tenth, Hunter Renfroe knocked a triple to right field. Corey Dickerson appeared to misplay his route to get to the ball, allowing McCutchen to score. Wong put the icing on the cake for the Brewers with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Renfroe.

The Cardinals didn’t give up, though. In their half of the tenth, Dylan Carlson knocked a sacrifice fly to right field, allowing Nolan Gorman to score. Unfortunately, that was all they were to get off of Matt Bush on Saturday.

The Cardinals were 1-for-4 with runners in scoring on Saturday, leaving five runners on base. A staggering 11 batters struck out at the plate, though. Hopefully, the next time Wainwright pitches, the team will provide some substantial run support for him.