LDN - Sports

Grichuk's hit in 10th gives Cardinals victory

[August 31, 2016] By Andrew Wagner, The Sports Xchange

MILWAUKEE -- For a second straight night, the Milwaukee Brewers looked like they might finally break the hex held over them by the St. Louis Cardinals.

And for the second straight night, the Cardinals made sure that didn't happen.

Randal Grichuk's 10th-inning RBI single to shallow right right drove in the go-ahead run as the Cardinals beat the Brewers, 2-1, on Tuesday night at Miller Park.

"It was a tough loss," said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, whose team has dropped six in a row and 12 of its last 16. "We had chances again. We were a play away a bunch of these games during the losing streak. But you have to make those plays."

Jhonny Peralta reached three times and Yadier Molina got on twice from St. Louis and kicked off the late rally by opening the 10th with a single and ground-rule double, respectively, off Corey Knebel (0-2), setting the stage for Grichuk's go-ahead hit.

St. Louis went on to load the bases in the inning but Knebel, who gave up the game-tying home run a night earlier, escaped with strikeouts to Tommy Pham and pinch-hitter Greg Garcia.

"It was a tough night for him but he came back and really pitched well in that inning," Counsell said. "He got two strikeouts that were huge and pitched his way out of that inning."

Wily Peralta put Milwaukee in position, holding the Cardinals to a run on three hits and a walk over seven innings while striking out 10 batters.

"My last few outings, I wasn't able to go deep past the sixth," Peralta said. "Being able to at least get through the seventh today, I feel happy and happy to execute ... but in that situation you want to get a win."

The only blemish on his line came in the sixth when he hung a 1-1 slider that Jedd Gyorko sent to right-center for his 24th home run of the season.

"The first two pitches I just wanted to see," Gyorko said. "I didn't see the ball great the first two at-bats. He was mixing it up on me. I wanted to see what he was going to throw. I kind of got a better idea of where I need to see the ball start. I was able to get it up."

Milwaukee also got its run in the sixth, tying the game at 1 on back-to-back doubles by Keon Broxton and Martin Maldonado. But that's all the Brewers could muster against Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, who also went seven innings and allowed just three hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven.

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Cardinals center fielder Randal Grichuk (15) hits an RBI single during the tenth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

"It was all about location," manager Mike Matheny said. "He established the fastball, which is kind of Baseball 101. Everything else was better once he made them aware he could put the fastball wherever he wanted to."

Wainwright is still looking for his first victory since July 16.

"That's the best I've been all year," Wainwright said. "My stuff was good tonight. That's the stuff I am going to have the rest of the year. That's the stuff I want to have."

Tyler Thornburg held the line by striking out the side in the ninth and Milwaukee put runners at second and third with two outs but Seung Hwan Oh (4-2) sent the game to extra innings by striking out Chris Carter looking.

After St. Louis took the lead, the Brewers loaded the bases in the 10th against Matt Bowman but Zach Duke struck out pinch-hitter Manny Pina for his first save of the season.

NOTES: Milwaukee sent INF Will Middlebrooks outright to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday, clearing a spot on the team's 40-man roster for a potential September call-up. Middlebrooks, signed as a minor league free agent last winter, batted .282 with 22 doubles and 10 home runs in 68 games for Colorado Springs, earning a call-up to Milwaukee on July 4. He appeared in just 10 games for Milwaukee and went 3-for-10 before landing on the DL with a strained right leg. ... X-rays on the thumb of INF Aledmys Diaz showed him recovering well enough to begin swinging a bat later this week, though he is still unable to resume throwing or fielding work. Diaz has been out since suffering a hairline fracture of his right thumb back July 31.

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