ST. LOUIS, MO (WHBL) - The Milwaukee Brewers’ magic number remains at 11 after they lost to the Saint Louis Cardinals 4-to-2 last night at Busch Stadium. Kyle Lohse pitched six shutout innings, and he earned his first win over Milwaukee since July of 2007 when he was with Cincinnati. Yovani Gallardo dropped to 1-and-7 lifetime against the Redbirds, giving up three runs in six innings on four hits and three walks. He’s now 15-and-10 overall. The Brewers went just 1-for-9 with runners-in-scoring-position. And they left 12 runners on base as they ended a four-game winning streak. But Milwaukee remains nine-and-a-half games ahead of the second-place Cardinals in the National League Central with 19 contests left. And the Brewers still have the league’s second-best record by three-and-a-half games. That means they’re still on track to open the playoffs at home against Atlanta, instead of having to go to league-leading Philadelphia.
Milwaukee didn’t score last night until the eighth inning – and the Cards tallied all four of their runs by then. The Brewers tried to rally in the ninth. They got one run in, but Casey McGehee grounded into a game-ending double-play which gave Jason Motte his third save of the year for Saint Louis. Corey Hart doubled-and-singled to extend his hitting streak to 18 games for the Brew Crew. Ryan Braun went 0-for-4, and he now trails the Mets’ Jose Reyes in the race for the league batting title by one point, .334 to .333. Prince Fielder drove in a run to remain tied with Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard for the National League R-B-I lead, each with 108. Jon Jay and Matt Holliday homered for Saint Louis. Tonight is the Cardinals’ final chance to directly gain ground on the Brew Crew. Right-hander Zack Greinke will start against Cardinals’ veteran right-hander Chris Carpenter. Coverage on WHBL gets underway at 6:40.
