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 "I've got a little attitude going," Davis, the Milwaukee Brewers
left fielder, said with a smile.
Davis welcomed Jonathan Broxton back to Miller Park by taking his
former teammate deep for a decisive two-run home run in the eighth
inning Sunday, as the Brewers avoided a sweep with a 5-4 victory
over the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.
"It doesn't matter where I pitch," Broxton said. "I didn't get the
job done today."
After going homerless in 47 at-bats from July 19 to Aug. 5, Davis
has four home runs in his last 15 at-bats, including two homers
Sunday.
"That's who he is, and he's trying to lengthen those good streaks
and shorten those bad streaks," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.
"When you get him in those good streaks, he can win games for you.
He will win games for you."
Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson and the Cardinals had a
consecutive scoreless innings streaks snapped Sunday.
Third baseman Elian Herrera ended the consecutive scoreless innings
streak of St. Louis pitchers at 38 with a one-out solo home run to
left field off Cardinals right-hander John Lackey in the third
inning.
After center fielder Shane Peterson worked Lackey for a seven-pitch
walk to keep the inning alive, Davis connected for a two-run home
run into Milwaukee's bullpen in left-center field to make it 3-0.
Nelson took his personal streak of innings pitched without allowing
an earned run up to 25 2/3 before the Cardinals broke through in the
sixth inning to cut Milwaukee's lead to 3-1.
Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward lined a two-out single into
left-center field to score second baseman Kolten Wong, who reached
on an infield single and stole second base earlier in the inning.
St. Louis used an infield single and a seeing-eye single to put two
on with nobody out against Nelson in the seventh inning. After a
sacrifice bunt by catcher Tony Cruz advanced the runners to second
and third, pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds hit a shot back up the middle
that caromed off Nelson and straight to first baseman Adam Lind for
an easy out.
With left-handed hitters Carpenter and Wong due up next, Counsell
had left-hander Will Smith ready to go in the bullpen.
But Counsell instead stuck with Nelson against third baseman Matt
Carpenter, who gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead by launching a
three-run home run into the second deck in right field.
"That's a tough spot," Counsell said. "To me, (Nelson) was just so
good up to that point. That inning got started on an infield hit,
then a little eight-hopper that got through the right side. He made
good pitches to Cruz on the sac (bunt). Made a nice pitch to
Reynolds. I thought he was continuing to make his pitches."
Despite allowing four earned runs in seven innings, Nelson said it
was the most locked in he's felt in the big leagues.
"It was just a few tough hits," Nelson said. "They hit two balls
hard. But overall, that was easily the best my command has been. I
was able to throw everything for a strike. It was just tough, but 'KD'
(Davis) and the bullpen picked me up."
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With the Cardinals needing offense in the top of the seventh inning,
Lackey was removed for a pinch hitter, having allowed three earned
runs on 66 pitches.
The Brewers put two on with two outs in the seventh, but Cardinals
reliever Seth Maness got Herrera to fly out to deep center field to
end the threat.
Pinch-hitter Jason Rogers led off the bottom of the eighth with a
single off left-hander Kevin Siegrist, and Peterson moved
pinch-runner Logan Schafer to second base with a sacrifice bunt.
Facing Broxton, who posted a 5.89 ERA in 40 games with the Brewers
before being traded to the Cardinals on July 31, Davis homered to
left-center field to put Milwaukee back in front at 5-4.
"It was a fastball," Davis said. "It felt just right there. It was a
good pitch to hit and I was ready."
Based on how he ended his time with the Brewers and had begun his
Cardinals career, Broxton appeared to be turning around what has
been one of the worst seasons of his 11-year career.
The 31-year-old had not allowed a run over his last 10 1/3 innings
dating back to July 2. In his four previous outings with St. Louis,
Broxton had five strikeouts in 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
"If I get back in that situation, I'm probably going to use
Broxton," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "He's been dynamic
for us. I'll use him again because I think that's one of the roles
he'll be playing for us."
Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez worked a perfect ninth inning to
record his 26th save of the season.
NOTES: St. Louis entered Sunday with a 36-inning consecutive
scoreless innings streak on the mound, including three straight
shutouts. The last time the Cardinals tossed four straight shutouts
in the same season was July 6-11, 1943. ... Cardinals C Tony Cruz
made just his 13th start of the season behind the plate Sunday,
giving starter Yadier Molina a day off. Three of Cruz's 13 starts
have come in August. ... The Brewers entered Sunday having been shut
out twice in a row. Milwaukee has been shut out in three straight
games just once in franchise history (May 3-6, 1972). ... Brewers
RHP Jimmy Nelson came into Sunday's start having thrown 20 2/3
consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. ... Brewers CF
Shane Peterson made his first career start in the leadoff spot
Sunday. Peterson is the 10th different player to hit in the top spot
for Milwaukee this season.
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