Shaw's homer in 10th lifts Brewers past Cardinals

[May 02, 2017]  ST. LOUIS -- Five innings after Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Zach Davies departed Monday night's game, he called Travis Shaw's shot against St. Louis Cardinals closer Seung Hwan Oh.

"He's a slider guy and that's a good guy for (Shaw) to face," Davies said. "Shaw can get to those pitches most of the time."

Pouncing on a bad 1-2 slider over the plate, Shaw rifled it 451 feet to right-center field for a tiebreaking three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning as Milwaukee outlasted St. Louis 7-5 at Busch Stadium.

It was the sixth homer of the year for Shaw and the Brewers' major league-high 47th in just 27 games.

"I didn't expect that," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said when asked about his team belting nearly two homers per game, "but we do have a lineup that can hit a bunch of homers."

On a cold night that saw temperatures dip into the upper 40s by the time Neftali Feliz retired Randal Grichuk on a flyout to left for his seventh save of the season, the teams combined for six homers. The Cardinals hit four, but all were solos.

Milwaukee (14-13) started the long-ball barrage with Jonathan Villar's 450-foot rocket over the St. Louis bullpen with Davies aboard in the third. It connected on the most important homer of the night with the help of faulty Cardinals defense.

After playing one of its best defensive games of the year with three double plays and a pickoff of Villar at first, St. Louis (12-13) got shaky at the worst time.

Kolten Wong, whose one-out RBI infield hit in the eighth completed the Cardinals' comeback from a 4-0 fifth-inning deficit, committed a throwing error after dropping a liner from pinch-hitter Hernan Perez to start the 10th. It was St. Louis' 23rd error in 25 games.

Villar bunted Perez to second and Eric Thames, who collected his 20th RBI with a double in the fifth, was intentionally walked. Oh (1-1) slipped a called third strike by Domingo Santana for the second out, then got up two strikes on Shaw.

With the remainder of a crowd of 36,339 pleading for the third out, Shaw unloaded his first career extra-inning homer.

"For me, it was just trying to put the ball in play," Shaw said. "I reacted and backspun it."

The blast made a winner out of Oliver Drake (1-0), who worked a 1-2-3 ninth. Neftali Feliz shook off Jedd Gyorko's second homer of the night in the 10th.

Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha (52) pitches during the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Wong, who also ran the Cardinals out of a rally in the sixth when he slipped rounding third on a single by pinch-hitter Matt Adams and was retired in a rundown, shouldered blame for the loss.

"Anything that hits my glove, I have to make that play," Wong said. "Somehow, the ball got in my glove and I think panic took over. It's just one of those bad games. You just have to understand what you did wrong and forget about it."

Trailing 4-0 in the fifth, St. Louis mounted a rally by muscling up. One-out solo homers by Aledmys Diaz and Matt Carpenter brought it within 4-2, and Gyorko initiated the eighth-inning uprising against reliever Jacob Barnes with his first homer of the year.

By tying the score, the Cardinals got Michael Wacha off the hook after he failed to notch a quality start for the first time in five outings. Wacha allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings with a walk and five strikeouts.

Davies battled through five innings, giving up seven hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeouts. He was in line for the win until St. Louis evened the score, but he still ended up on the right side of a brash prediction.

"I saw it coming," he said of Shaw's winning blast.

NOTES: Milwaukee designated LHP Tommy Milone for assignment and selected the contract of RHP Rob Scahill from Triple-A Colorado Springs. Milone was 1-0 with a 6.43 ERA in six appearances for the Brewers. ... St. Louis entered Monday night's game with a 3.32 ERA from its starting pitchers, the lowest in the majors. ... Brewers LF Ryan Braun (right trapezius soreness) didn't play Monday night after being injured in Sunday's 4-3 win over Atlanta, but 3B Travis Shaw (hand) was back in the lineup after sitting out Sunday.

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