Brewers blow 5-0 lead to St. Louis, lose 5th straight game
The Milwaukee Brewers late-season skid continued Thursday in an 8-5 loss to St. Louis as the Cardinals finished off a four-game sweep.
The Crew led 5-0 after four innings thanks to a pair of home runs from Tyrone Taylor. He hit a grand slam in the first inning off Adam Wainwright and added a solo shot of the St. Louis starter in the fourth inning. The lead was still 5-1 after six innings before things fell apart in the seventh.
After striking out the first batter, Jake Cousins gave up a single and then issued walks to the next two hitters. That was it for Cousins, who was replaced by Brad Boxberger. He allowed a run on a fielder’s choice to make it a 5-2 game and then gave up another run on an errant pickoff attempt at first. Paul Goldschmidt would follow with a two-run homer to tie the game.
Things did not get better in the eighth and ninth innings, with Aaron Ashby giving up three runs, including another Goldschmidt home run.
Milwaukee’s offense produced some opportunities outside of Taylor’s heroics, including loading the bases in the fifth inning with one out. But Eduardo Escobar flied out to right field and Luis Urias grounded out to third base, keeping the Brewers from adding any more runs to their lead.
The collapse was just the latest disaster since sweeping Cleveland 11 days ago. Since then, the Brewers have lost seven of their last nine games and been swept twice, while the Cardinals have won 12 in a row. Milwaukee’s lead in the NL Central stands at 7.5 with nine games to play, including three more against St. Louis next week.
Milwaukee will welcome in the New York Mets for a weekend series starting Friday, while the Cardinals head to Chicago to face the Cubs.