After seeing their 4-2 lead disappear in the bottom half of the seventh-inning once starting pitcher Shelby Miller exited the ball game, St. Louis scored four runs of their own in the top of the eighth, taking the lead for good at 8-5. Matt Carpenter singled to center to drive in Daniel Descalso following an RBI single off the bat of Matt Adams to score the rookie-infielder Kolten Wong to tie the game up.
Wong, the Cardinals speedy utility man that made his MLB-debut on Friday afternoon in Chicago, finished the game with his first-two career hits as well as stolen bases and helped light a spark that this team desperately needed. He beat out infield singles in both the sixth and eighth innings, leading to his stolen bases. With Milwaukee leading 6 to 5 in the eighth, Kolten hit a chopper to the third baseman Aramis Ramirez but beat the throw as ruled by first-base umpire Marty Foster, in what was a hectic game from the start between two division-rivals.
Both Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay homered for the Angry Birds, making it the first time this season that Jay homered on consecutive days. St. Louis totaled 16 hits on the night -- with seven of them coming in just the eighth (six with 2 outs).
Jonathan Lucroy played a good game for the Brewers on Monday, as he finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Ramirez, who is a long-time division-rival for the Cardinals, hit a home run to deep left in the bottom of the seventh in what was the go-ahead run at the time before the eruption in the next half-inning.
Shelby Miller fanned eight batters in his 5 1/3 innings pitched, but ultimately got a no-decision as he gave up two runs on five hits with four free bases. Michael Wacha ultimately blew the win for Miller as he pitched an inning and gave up three runs on four hits but earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the year. Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist pitched a perfect 1 2/3 innings before Edward Mujica earned his 32nd save in 34 opportunities.
Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada pitched six innings and also recieved a no-decision. He gave up four runs on eight hits with four strike outs before Brandon Kintzler gave up four runs on six hits in 2/3's of an inning to earn his first loss on the season to fall to 3-1.
The Cardinals improved to 72-52 overall and kept pace with the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates to stay just one game out of first. The Brewers on the other hand, fell to 54-71 and following a Cubs win over the Washington Nationals, fell into last place in the National League Central division. The two teams will play the second of the three game series at 7:10 pm on Tuesday night.
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