MILWAUKEE — There was not the major clattering event that doomed the Cardinals in their first meeting with a division rival this season, but instead a concert of minor misses.
Twice the Cardinals had the bases loaded and twice they failed to send home a run. Twice Milwaukee gave the Cardinals a gift of a hit or opportunity, and twice they failed to capitalize. At end of all these misspent chances, the Cardinals had not scored once.
In their first road game of the regular season, the Cardinals collected their first shutout of 2023. Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Woodruff piloted the Brewers through the first 5 1/3 innings of a 4-0 victory Friday night at American Family Field. Doing what the Cardinals did not by piecing together a run here or a run there when they could, the Brewers upped their winning streak to six consecutive games while keeping the Cardinals looking for a foothold in a week that’s gone sideways.
Jack Flaherty (1-1) continued to pitch around walks, not power beyond them, though for a second consecutive outing he found ways to minimize trouble. The Brewers got 10 baserunners against the Cardinals’ right-hander yet scored only two runs — and one came on sacrifice fly. The Brewers’ doubled their offense against the Cardinals’ bullpen.
It’s likely that the Cardinals will be forced to adjust their bullpen ahead of Saturday night’s game against Milwaukee. Lefty Packy Naughton was removed from the game suddenly in the eighth inning after a walk. Naughton walked off the field with a trainer and the extent of his injury was not clear at deadline for this edition.
Walker extends streak, matches Clemente
With a line-drive single to center in the fifth inning, rookie Jordan Walker joined some exclusive company by extending his career-starting hitting streak to seven games. Walker is the first National League player his age — 20 years, 320 days — or younger to begin his career with a seven-game hitting streak since Roberto Clemente.
Hall of Fame outfielder Clemente debuted in April 1955 at the age of 20 years, 242 days, and he started with a seven-game hitting streak for Pittsburgh. A strong start on the 3,000 hits he collected. The only player to be as young and begin his career in the majors with a longer hitting streak is Boston’s Ted Williams, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Walker’s hitting streak is the longest by a Cardinals’ rookie to begin his career since Juan Yepez opened with hits in seven consecutive games just last year. The club record for hits to begin a career was set at nine by speedy outfielder Magneuris Sierra in 2017.
Brewers walk before they run
The walks that peppered Flaherty’s first start of the season continued within a few innings of his second start of the season.
Christian Yelich, the former NL MVP, accepted a leadoff walk in the third inning, and that put the game’s first rally in motion for Milwaukee. Three batters into the inning and Yelich was at third base with one out. Rowdy Tellez gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left. Instead of taking the off ramp offered with the second out of the inning, Flaherty’s trouble persisted. William Contreras slipped a groundball single to right and Garrett Mitchell lined a single to left that doubled the lead to 2-0.
The Brewers started the season without a run in their first 16 innings, but then scored at least seven in four consecutive games. They outscored the Mets, 26-6, in a three-game sweep and had 19 runs before the Mets had one. They didn’t generate the same runs in bulk against the Cardinals but did enough consistently to widen their lead.
Three singles off reliever Andre Pallante yielded a 3-0 lead in the sixth.
Willy Adames’ leadoff homer in the seventh off reliever Jordan Hicks gave the Brewers a 4-0 lead to take into the final two innings.
Flaherty walked six in his five innings, giving his season an unusual statistical twist after two games. His ERA of 1.80 is adjacent to his WHIP of 1.70.
Inches offered, opportunities missed
For the second time in three innings, the Cardinals loaded the bases in the sixth inning and did so only because of a gift from Brewers reliever Joel Payamps.
Nolan Arenado nudged a pitch down the third-base line that appeared to be veering foul before Payamps plucked it from the dirt strip on the fair side of the line.
It was the second time in as many at-bats that Arenado got a base hit with a runner in scoring position and yet did not drive home a run. His infield single, with Payamps’ assist, was a prelude to a walk by Willson Contreras that loaded the bases for Tyler O’Neill. Back in the starting lineup for the first time since he and the manager disagreed about his effort baserunning Tuesday night, O’Neill took a pitch high and tight from Payamps to give himself a 3-1 count. He chopped the next pitch into an inning-ending groundout.
The Cardinals had three singles against Woodruff in the fourth inning to load the bases with one out. Within the cluster of singles, Paul Goldschmidt struck out on a 96.7 mph fastball. Arenado followed with a single that moved every Cardinal, including himself, 90 feet. That put in the inning at the tip of Willson Contreras’ bat.
Woodruff spotted him a ball with a timer violation.
Contreras replied with a grounder that spun into an inning-ending double play.
Through six innings, the Cardinals were 2 for 6 with runners in scoring position, but neither of those hits had brought home a run. In a span of 33 innings stretching back to the start of the Atlanta series, the Cardinals were 6 for 26 (.231) with runners in scoring position, but half of those hits were singles that did not score a run.
Donovan’s dazzling defense squelches inning
A third inning that threatened to get away from Flaherty due to two walks and a 12-hop groundball up the middle was rescued when Brendan Donovan dove to greet that grounder behind second base.
In a play straight out of the imaginations of those who wanted to ban the infield shift, Donovan blitzed from the second base side of the infield, dove, and snared the ball on the shortstop side. The first winner of the National League’s utility fielder Gold Glove Award turned and threw to first for an out. Donovan’s play saved at least a run as the Brewers had two baserunners, both on due to walks. Instead of a run in and the top of the order up with another runner in scoring position, the Brewers removed their batting helmets and headed on to the third inning.
