Brewers Won
Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Gabe Kapler singled home the game-winning run in the 12th inning as the Milwaukee Brewers came away with a 9-8 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals to split their two-game series at Miller Park.
Gabe Gross, who scored three times, earned a one-out walk in the 12th and, after several pickoff attempts, stole second to put himself in scoring position. Kapler then drilled a Jason Isringhausen curveball into center field and Gross eased home for the win.
“Against a guy like Isringhausen, you usually try to get a good pitch to hit,” Kapler said. “Allow the ball to travel, see the ball a long time, then use your hands. There are certain pitchers around the league, most of the time they’re closers, you go up to (in) a grind mode.”
The Brewers blew a five-run lead in the game, but managed to snap their two- game losing streak. Rickie Weeks was 2-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored and three RBI, while Ryan Braun plated two and Prince Fielder reached base five times to go along with a sacrifice fly.
Gross finished 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and was actually traded after the game to Tampa Bay for pitching prospect Josh Butler.
Brewers starter Manny Parra only lasted five innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks. Seth McClung (1-0) picked up the win after throwing a perfect 12th.
Albert Pujols finished 2-for-6 at the plate with a run scored and two batted in for the Cardinals, who have lost three of their last four. Aaron Miles recorded four hits, while Skip Schumaker and Troy Glaus notched three hits apiece.
Kyle Lohse, who came into the game with a 1.48 ERA, had his first rough outing of the season for St. Louis, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks in just four innings on the hill. Isringhausen (1-1) was credited with the loss after only recording one out before the game-winner.
Lohse helped his own cause in the bottom of the second with an RBI single to right, as Ryan Ludwick scored from third for a 1-0 Cardinals lead.
St. Louis added another run in the third, but could have had more. After Ludwick’s one-out single plated a run, Glaus followed with a liner to left field. Pujols was waived around from second, but Braun came up firing and nailed Pujols on a close play at the plate.
Braun again came through in the bottom of the inning with a two-run double to knot the game at two apiece. Corey Hart followed two batters later with a single and the Brewers had their first lead of the game, 3-2.
In the fourth, Parra got a knock of his own with an RBI double down the right field line. But he gave the run right back the next inning as Pujols doubled and scored after a balk and wild pitch.
Leading 4-3, Milwaukee seemed to break the game open in the sixth with a four- run frame. Cardinals relief pitcher Brad Thompson loaded the bases and surrendered a bases-clearing triple to Weeks, who later scored on Fielder’s deep sacrifice fly to center for an 8-3 score.
The Brewers relievers barely hung on to the lead in the seventh. After David Riske loaded the bases, Brian Shouse came in and promptly allowed an RBI single and sacrifice fly to make it a three-run ballgame. Two more RBI singles were sandwiched around a strikeout and the Cardinals trailed by just a run.
In the top of the ninth, with Eric Gagne on the mound, the Cardinals completed the comeback to tie the game. Pujols hit a one-out grounder with runners on the corners, but Fielder couldn’t handle Weeks’ throw from second to complete the double play. Cesar Izturis scored and the game went to extra innings.
“Gagne threw the ball good,” Brewers manager Ned Yost said. “He was out of it. We didn’t turn a double play for him…we just didn’t turn it.”
Game Notes
St. Louis pounded out 16 hits, and Milwaukee tallied 15…The Cardinals are 31-21 versus the Brewers since the start of the 2005 season…The Cardinals ran out of position players in the ninth and had to move Pujols to second base for the first time in his career…Gabe Gross scored twice for Milwaukee…On Wednesday, the Cardinals head to Pittsburgh for another two-game set, while the Brewers host Philadelphia for back-to-back affairs…Game time was 4:28…Milwaukee outfielder Tony Gwynn was recalled from a rehab assignment and will be reinstated from the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.
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