St. Louis Cardinals: Inside an epic and historic series against the Brewers

It wasn’t the greatest of series against the Brewers for the Cardinals, but they had one epic evening fans won’t soon forget. 

The Cardinals split their series with the Milwaukee Brewers this week and remain 8 games ahead of their NL Central rivals.

The Brewers won Tuesday 8-4, and the Cardinals won Wednesday 4-1.

The Cardinals had their worst start from Jordan Montgomery on Tuesday. He pitched five innings, giving up seven hits and six runs, with four being earned. He walked one and struck out six. He gave up a home run to Andrew McCutchen in the fifth inning.

Chris Stratton pitched a third of an inning, giving up a hit and an earned run. Packy Naughton pitched 1.2 innings, giving up a hit, walking one, and striking out two batters. Zack Thompson pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up a hit, a walk, and one earned run.

Jake Woodford pitched the final 1.1 innings, giving up one hit.

Nolan Arenado got the scoring started for the Cardinals Tuesday in the first inning with a sharp line drive double to center field, scoring Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman. Albert Pujols singled on a soft liner to second, scoring Arenado.

Tommy Edman singled to center field in the second inning, scoring Tyler O’Neill. Unfortunately, that was all the Cardinals could muster, and they moved on to the high expectations of Wednesday’s game.

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina have a milestone night for the Cardinals

Wainwright and Molina broke the all-time battery start mark with their 325th start together Wednesday, breaking a record held by Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers.

Just an unbelievable moment and milestone for the pair that have had so many iconic moments together as Cardinals.

The first batter faced in the start was Christian Yelich. Here’s how it went:

Just a classy move by Christian Yelich and the Brewers to let this moment happen by taking the pitch.

Wainwright earned his 11th win, going five innings and giving up eight hits, two walks, and one run. He did strike out three batters. Take note of the helmet worn by Molina at the start. Here’s hoping miniature replicas are made. Molina also had this strike ’em out, throw ’em out, a moment that nailed a former teammate, Kolten Wong.

Andre Pallante earned his eighth hold of the season, pitching the sixth inning. He walked one and struck out one. Jordan Hicks also earned his eighth hold, pitching the seventh inning. He gave up a hit, walked one, and struck out two batters. Hicks had a max velocity of 102.6 mph.

Giovanny Gallegos earned his 10th hold, pitching the eighth inning. He struck out two batters.

Ryan Helsley earned his 17th save pitching the ninth inning. He gave up a hit while striking out two batters. Helsley had a max velocity of 102.5 mph.

Nolan Arenado got the scoring started for the Cardinals in the second inning. He hit his 29th home run on a fly to left-center field off Corbin Burnes. Arenado’s home run traveled 413 feet at 105.3 mph. Molina singled later in the inning on a line drive to left field, scoring Brendan Donovan.

Lars Nootbaar knocked his 12th home run on a fly to center field. The ball traveled 452 feet at 110.3 mph.

In the eighth inning, Albert Pujols provided some insurance for the Cardinals with a double to center field, scoring a speedy Tyler O’Neill from first. This was Pujols’ 2,200th RBI of his Hall of Fame career.

The Cardinals are now 84-59 on the season. They have an eight-game lead on the Brewers, who are 76-67 on the season, and will take on the New York Yankees in Milwaukee this weekend.

Starting Thursday, the Cardinals will play five games in four days against the Cincinnati Reds. This should be a fun weekend of baseball for the Cardinals.