Cardinals beat Brewers as Pujols reaches 30-100
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| Regular Season Series |
| St. Louis leads 8-7 (as of Wed 9/26) |
| Fri 4/13 |
Postponed/Delayed |
Information |
| Sat 4/14 |
MIL 3, @STL 2 |
Recap |
| Sun 4/15 |
@STL 10, MIL 2 |
Recap |
| Mon 4/30 |
@MIL 7, STL 1 |
Recap |
| Tue 5/1 |
@MIL 12, STL 2 |
Recap |
| Wed 5/2 |
@MIL 4, STL 0 |
Recap |
| Fri 7/27 |
MIL 12, @STL 2 |
Recap |
| Sat 7/28 |
@STL 7, MIL 6 |
Recap |
| Sat 7/28 |
@STL 5, MIL 2 |
Recap |
| Sun 7/29 |
@STL 9, MIL 5 |
Recap |
| Tue 8/14 |
STL 12, @MIL 4 |
Recap |
| Wed 8/15 |
STL 8, @MIL 3 |
Recap |
| Thu 8/16 |
STL 8, @MIL 0 |
Recap |
| Mon 9/24 |
@MIL 13, STL 5 |
Recap |
| Tue 9/25 |
@MIL 9, STL 1 |
Recap |
| >Wed 9/26 |
STL 7, @MIL 3 |
Box Score |
| · Complete Schedule: Brewers | Cardinals |
| Scoring Summary |
| STL | MIL |
 | 1st | A Pujols homered to right. | 1 | 0 |
 | 1st | R Braun doubled to left, J Hardy scored. | 1 | 1 |
| 2nd | R Braun hit a ground rule double to deep left, D Miller scored, J Hardy to third. | 1 | 2 |
| 3rd | R Ludwick doubled to deep left, A Miles and A Pujols scored, R Ludwick to third advancing on throw. | 3 | 2 |
| 8th | K Stinnett walked, A Pujols scored, S Schumaker to third, M Cairo to second. | 4 | 2 |
| 8th | S Taguchi hit a ground rule double to deep center, S Schumaker and M Cairo scored, K Stinnett to third. | 6 | 2 |
| 8th | A Miles reached on infield single to third, K Stinnett scored, S Taguchi to third. | 7 | 2 |
| 9th | R Braun singled to center, R Weeks scored. | 7 | 3 |
| · View complete Play-By-Play |
| Game Information |
| Stadium | Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI |
| Attendance | 32,411 (77.4% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 3:12 |
| Weather | indoors |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Tom Hallion, First Base - Bruce Dreckman, Second Base - Phil Cuzzi, Third Base - Tim Welke |
| A CLOSER LOOK |
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• Summary: Knowing the Cubs lost, the Brewers blew a chance to cut the NL Central lead to one with a loss to the Cardinals.
| |  | |
| Pujols |
• Hero: Albert Pujols homered in the first, reaching 100 RBIs for the seventh straight season. He's the first player in major league history to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs in each of his first seven seasons.
• Hunt for October: The Cubs' magic number to clinch the Central dropped to three, despite losing.
• Did you see that? Both benches were warned about throwing at each other in the second inning after Brad Thompson plunked Prince Fielder with a high fastball. In the eighth, Pujols was plunked on the elbow by Brewers reliever Seth McClung, who was ejected along with Brewers manager Ned Yost.
• Quotable: "We're in a situation where we no longer control our own destiny, so we pretty much are in a must-win every day." -- Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun
-- ESPN.com news services
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Cardinals 7, Brewers 3
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Time is running out on the
Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brewers wasted a chance to cut their NL Central deficit to one game, giving up a first-inning home run to
Albert Pujols in a testy 7-3 loss Wednesday night to the
St. Louis Cardinals that saw two more hit batters and a pair of ejections.
| Division Magic Numbers |
|
The magic number is derived by adding one to the number of
remaining games and subtracting the number of games ahead in the
loss column from the second-place team. Here's where the leaders stand: |
| AL EAST |
| x-Red Sox | 2 |
| AL CENTRAL |
| x-Indians | Won division |
| AL WEST |
| x-Angels | Won division |
| NL EAST |
| Mets | 4 |
| NL CENTRAL |
| Cubs | 3 |
| NL WEST |
| D-backs | 4 |
| x-clinched playoff spot |
"We're in a situation where we no longer control our own destiny, so we pretty much are in a must-win every day," said
Ryan Braun, who drove in all three of Milwaukee's runs.
Chicago maintained a two-game division lead with four games to play despite a 7-4 loss at the
Florida Marlins. Milwaukee starts a season-ending four-game series Thursday at home against San Diego.
Thursday's scheduled starter, 21-year-old
Yovani Gallardo, said that will be the most important outing of his life.
"They're all important now," he said.
Reliever
Brian Shouse, who came in after Chicago's game had been decided, allowed three inherited runner to score.
"Any time you can see that the Cubs already lost, the game was right there within our reach," Shouse said. "For this to happen, it was very disappointing."
A night after
Jeff Suppan threw a high, inside pitch at Pujols, causing St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Brewers manager Ned Yost to exchange heated words, there was more inside pitching.
Both benches were warned about throwing at each other in the second inning after
Brad Thompson (8-6) plunked
Prince Fielder on the right shoulder with a high fastball. Fielder got up and stared at the Cardinals dugout while plate umpire Tom Hallion walked him all the way down to first before issuing his warnings.
"I was just trying to throw the ball in to him," Thompson said. "I wasn't trying to hit him."
In the eighth, Pujols was plunked on the elbow by Brewers reliever
Seth McClung, who was ejected along with Yost. The Cardinals went on to score four runs with two outs.
"It's not the first guy I've hit, not the first walk. Why do you think Tampa traded me?" McClung said. "It happens sometimes with me. The ball just gets out of my hand and flies away."
La Russa was also diplomatic.
"That wasn't intentional," he said. "They were down by one run. It's not a good time to do that."
Pujols' homer, which gave him 100 RBIs for the seventh straight season, set an early tone. He maintained he wasn't motivated by the previous night's events.
"That wasn't even on my mind.," he said. "I knew it slipped away from him."
Braun's RBI double put Milwaukee ahead in the second, but St. Louis went ahead to stay in the third when
Ryan Ludwick doubled off
Carlos Villanueva (8-5) following an intentional walk to Pujols.
Villanueva never looked comfortable in six innings, allowing three runs, five hits and four walks.
Pujols, recovering from a strained left calf muscle, hit his 32nd homer and became the first player to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs in seven straight seasons at the start of his career.
Milwaukee used five relievers in the eighth as the game, and perhaps the season, slipped away.
Derrick Turnbow forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to
Kelly Stinnett, and Shouse allowed a two-run double to
So Taguchi and an infield RBI single to
Aaron Miles.
Milwaukee had its chances early. The Brewers loaded the bases in the second before
Corey Hart's inning-ending flyout.
With two on and no outs in the third,
Damian Miller grounded into a double play and Villanueva struck out. With two out and two outs in the fourth, Hart fouled out to the catcher.
Thompson, trying to solidify a spot in next year's rotation, allowed two unearned runs and five hits in six innings, retiring his final seven batters. The runs were unearned because of a throwing error by Stinnett on Villaneuva's sacrifice in front of the plate.
"This time of year, they're ticking off. But we still have four games left," Yost said. "We had opportunities to score offensively, and we couldn't get a big hit with two outs."
Game notes Pujols has 282 homers and 858 RBIs along with a .331 career batting average. ... Ted Williams was the last player to hit at least 100 RBIs in each of his first seven seasons, doing so from 1939-49, not counting his war service years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... A day after saying C
Johnny Estrada (torn meniscus) would be available to pinch hit, Yost said it was wishful thinking. ... The Cardinals won the season series 8-7.
Cardinals 7, 
Brewers 3