ST. LOUIS — By Rob Rains
There once was a game, an important game, when the Cardinals fell behind Gio Gonzalez 6-0 and rallied to win. Yadier Molina was there, so too were Adam Wainwright and Matt Carpenter.
Unfortunately for the current Cardinals, that game was six years ago, not Tuesday night.
In game five of the Division Series on Oct. 12, 2012, Gonzalez had a 6-0 lead for the Nationals before the Cardinals roared back to win the game. In fairness to Gonzalez, he left after five innings with the Cardinals still trailing 6-3 before they later scored four runs in the ninth in the 9-7 win.
Gonzalez also left Tuesday night’s game with a 6-3 lead, but this time, there was no comeback.
While a loss that October night six years ago would have ended the Cardinals’ season, all the latest loss did was throw a major crimp in the Cardinals hopes to keep playing past Sunday.
Combined with the Rockies win at home against the Phillies, the Cardinals fell out of a playoff spot. They trail Colorado by a half-game for the second wild-card spot.
The win also guaranteed the Brewers will win the season series against the Cardinals, meaning if the two teams tie – increasingly becoming more doubtful – that playoff game would be played in Milwaukee.
Austin Gomber gave up two home runs in the first inning and the Brewers increased the lead to 6-0 on a bases-loaded triple by Christian Yelich, looking more and more like the potential MVP in the National League, in a four-run fourth. Yelich later capped his MVP statement with a three-run homer in the ninth, giving him a career-high 6-RBIs.
Molina’s three-run homer in the fourth had sliced the Brewers lead in half, at 6-3, but the Cardinals could get no closer than three runs the rest of the game. The Brewers put it out of reach in the eighth on Ryan Braun’s second homer.
The win, combined with the Cubs loss to the Pirates, left Milwaukee just a half-game behind the Cubs in the NL Central division race.
Carpenter was ejected by home plate umpire Will Little for arguing a called third strike, which appeared on video review to be well outside the strike zone. Manager Mike Shildt was tossed as well after coming out in support of Carpenter.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: Molina’s homer, on an 0-2 pitch, was his 20th of the season … The Cardinals had the bases loaded twice in the fifth but could only get a sacrifice fly from Paul DeJong out of it after Jedd hit into an inning-ending double play … Gyorko came up again with the bases loaded in the seventh, with the Cardinals trailing 7-4, but flied out to end the inning … Marcell Ozuna reached base four times on three singles and a walk.
On the mound: Gomber had allowed only one homer in his last 43 innings and had not given up a home run in the first inning in his 10 starts this season before Jesus Aguilar and Braun went back-to-back on Tuesday night in the span of four pitches, giving the Brewers the lead just four batters into the game … Gomber did not make it out of the fourth, leaving after a run scored on three consecutive singles, but he was charged with two more runs when Yelich tripled off Tyson Ross … Ross gave up another run in the fifth before Dominic Leone was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam … Braun put the game out of reach with his second homer, a two-run shot in the eighth off Mike Mayers, before Yelich homered off Brett Cecil in the ninth … All but one of the Brewers runs scored after the Cardinals had two outs and nobody on to begin those innings.
Key stat: With four games left, the maximum number of games the Cardinals can win is 91, the current total for both the Cubs and the Brewers. The Cubs have an extra game to play on Thursday, when the Cardinals and Brewers are off. The Rockies have 87 wins, the same as the Cardinals, and also have an extra game to play on Thursday.
Worth noting: The only other time the Brewers hit two home runs in the first inning of a game at Busch Stadium 3 was on Oct. 1, 2006 (Prince Fielder and Geoff Jenkins). The last time the Cardinals gave up two homers in the first inning at home was Sept. 26, 2016, when Joey Votto and Adam Duvall of the Reds homered off Jaime Garcia … In their first 79 games at home this season, they had allowed a total of three homers in the first inning coming into Tuesday night’s game … It was Braun’s third career two-homer game against the Cardinals; the other two were both in 2008 … Carpenter was ejected from a game for the fifth time in his career, the second time this season.
Looking ahead: John Gant will get the start in the series finale on Wednesday night, which begins at 6:15 p.m., the last home game of the regular season.
