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 But while outfielder Jason Heyward inflicted the damage Tuesday
night, it was unheralded rookie Tommy Pham who swung the big bat
Wednesday, belting a pair of home runs in a 5-4 Cardinals victory at
Miller Park.
"We're real happy we're able to put a young player in and watch him
make the adjustments," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "He's
been doing some work trying to figure out some holes and figure out
the league. He has obvious power. He's just an exciting player. He
made a couple of real nice plays in the outfield."
Pham, who had just two home runs in his first 42 major league games,
doubled that total in his first two at-bats Wednesday against
Brewers right-hander Wily Peralta.
"That was the first time I faced him," Peralta said. "So far, he's
good. Two (at-bats), two homers."
Peralta also gave up a home run to third baseman Matt Carpenter,
part of a disappointing four-inning performance that resulted in
five St. Louis runs on six hits and two walks with a pair of
strikeouts.
"Wily had a rough night," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He
didn't have the sink we normally see on his fastball tonight so we
saw some balls driven in the air which, especially against
right-handed hitters, is something you don't normally see. The
sinker is his pitch and that has to be a good pitch for him."
The Cardinals got 6 1/3 innings out of left-hander Jaime Garcia, who
gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out four.
"We got a good start from Jaime," Matheny said. "He just had one
rough inning. He did a real nice job after that."
Most of the damage came in the fourth.
The Cardinals were leading, 5-0, but singles by left fielder Khris
Davis and right fielder Domingo Santana and an error on Carpenter
put runners at the corners with nobody out for second baseman Elian
Herrera, who dropped a fly ball in shallow right, between a trio of
charging St. Louis defenders, making it a 5-1 game.
The next batter, catcher Martin Maldonado, made it a one-run game
with a three-run home run to right-center, his fourth of the year.
Garcia recovered from there, retiring seven of his final nine
batters.
"(Maldonado) put a good swing on a mistake that I made," Garcia
said. "But at the same time, I was able to stay in the game. That
didn't really affect me mentally or physically. I was able to make
pitches as if nothing happened."
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Milwaukee's bullpen put up five scoreless innings, but the Brewers
couldn't close the gap against right-handers Seth Maness, Jonathan
Broxton or Trevor Rosenthal, who struck out the side in the ninth
for his 45th save of the year.
"We didn't have a big scoring opportunity after that inning,"
Counsell said. "We've done some good things the last two nights but
not enough to beat a good team."
Second baseman Kolten Wong's one-out walk in the second set the
stage for Pham's first home run of the day, which gave the Cardinals
a 2-0 lead.
Third baseman Matt Carpenter made it a 3-0 game when he led off the
third with his 22nd home run of the season. After Wong's one-out
single in the fourth, Pham struck again, drilling a 3-2 slider to
center, putting St. Louis up 5-0.
Pham nearly added a third home run on the day, driving a ball deep
to center in the eighth that Logan Schafer hauled in at the base of
the wall.
"I actually (thought it would be a home run)," Pham said. "The wind
was blowing in late in the game and it held it up."
The victory moved St. Louis four full games ahead of the
second-place Pirates, who fell to the Cubs, 3-2, in Pittsburgh.
NOTES: Brewers OF Ryan Braun was scratched from the starting lineup
with lower back tightness. ... Milwaukee was also without C Jonathan
Lucroy, who hasn't played since Sept. 8 because of post-concussion
symptoms, and 1B Adam Lind, who sat against Cardinals LHP Jamie
Garcia. Lind was batting .229 against left-handed pitchers this
season and .299 against right-handers. ... Cardinals 1B Matt Adams
was back on the bench Wednesday, a day after making his first start
since May 26. Adams missed 91 games with a right quad injury and has
served primarily as a pinch hitter since being activated last week.
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