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 "Just look for a heater," the Milwaukee Brewers' right fielder
said.
Upon getting said heater from St. Louis Cardinals closer Trevor
Rosenthal, Santana crushed it 440 feet into the seats in deep
right-center field, snapping a tie and lifting Milwaukee to a 6-4
victory at Busch Stadium.
Santana's first homer of the year came on an 0-1 fastball that was
traveling 98 mph when it got to the plate and a whole lot faster
when it arced into the bleachers.
"Domingo really got into that ball," Brewers manager Craig Counsell
said. "Upper-level closers, it's hard to score against them. That
was a nice job by (Santana)."
Prior to Santana's game-winning blast, pinch-hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis
worked a walk from Rosenthal (0-1) on a full-count pitch after
falling behind 1-2, a plate appearance Counsell praised as
impressive.
 The homer made a winner of reliever Michael Blazek (1-0), a former
Cardinal who coughed up a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he yielded a
solo homer to pinch-hitter Brandon Moss.
St. Louis (4-4) saw its four-game winning streak end on an evening
where it was sloppy in the field, committing a pair of errors, and
managed only three hits after a three-run first inning against
starter Chase Anderson.
Milwaukee (4-4) gifted the Cardinals a fourth out in the inning,
courtesy of a two-out throwing error by third baseman Colin Walsh on
Stephen Piscotty's bouncer. Randal Grichuk cashed it in with a
two-run double and scored on a Yadier Molina single.
St. Louis did next to nothing over Anderson's last five innings,
picking up one hit -- a fly ball double by Jeremy Hazelbaker in the
sixth that plopped just inside the right field foul line. But that
hit was erased when catcher Jonathan Lucroy nailed Hazelbaker trying
to steal third.
It was the capper of a big night for Lucroy, who tagged starter Mike
Leake for three hits and two RBIs, making him 15-of-33 in his career
against Leake. But like most of his teammates and manager, he was
most impressed by Santana's bomb off Rosenthal, who has allowed only
12 homers in three-plus big league seasons.
"He got the top hand on it," Lucroy said of Santana. "What a big
hit."
"I made a mistake over the middle of the plate and he was ready to
hit," Rosenthal said of Santana.
Jeremy Jeffress worked around Molina's two-out single in the ninth
for his fourth save in as many tries, inducing a game-ending
fielder's choice chopper from pinch-hitter Matt Adams.
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Lucroy opened the night's scoring with a two-out ground-rule double
down the right field line, scoring Santana, who slammed the game's
first pitch off the wall in right-center for a double.
After the Cardinals' first inning outburst, Lucroy keyed the next
two Brewers' rallies. After leading off the fourth with a single,
Lucroy moved around to third on two infield outs and scored on a
single by Ramon Flores.
An inning later, Lucroy's two-out single up the middle plated Ryan
Braun with the tying run, and Lucroy hustled home from first when
Chris Carter doubled off the right field wall.
Neither starter figured into the decision. Leake worked six innings,
yielding eight hits and four runs with a walk and six strikeouts.
Anderson pitched six innings as well, giving up only four hits and
three unearned runs with two walks and four strikeouts.
Anderson was in line for the win until Moss' game-tying homer, but
Santana made sure Anderson's effort wasn't completely wasted with
what he said was his best moment as a major leaguer.
"It feels good, and it feels better because we won the game,"
Santana said.
NOTES: Milwaukee SS Jonathan Villar (ankle) was held out of
Wednesday night's lineup, although manager Craig Counsell said he
was available for pinch-hit duty if needed. Villar played in each of
the team's first seven games. ... St. Louis LHP Marco Gonzales
(elbow) has elected to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the
season's remainder. General manager John Mozeliak said the operation
could happen as early as Friday. ... Cardinals OF Tommy Pham (left
oblique), who was injured April 3 in Pittsburgh, could start a rehab
assignment late next week.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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