Brewers, Cardinals split doubleheader
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brent Suter and three relievers combined on a two-hitter, Ryan Braun hit his 350th career homer and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 Wednesday night to split a doubleheader.
The Cardinals took the opener 4-2 behind Adam Wainwright’s four-hitter.
St. Louis manager Mike Shildt ran the team in the opener. He missed the nightcap while serving a one-game suspension, imposed by Major League Baseball after tempers flared during the Brewers’ 18-3 romp Tuesday night.
Umpires warned both teams after Braun was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning. He was the third Milwaukee batter plunked in the game — he was at the center of the trouble the previous night when he hit Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina in the wrist during a swing.
The Brewers scored four runs in the first inning on just one hit, the three-run homer by Braun.
Suter allowed two hits over three scoreless innings, walking two and striking out three. Freddy Peralta (3-1) followed with two perfect innings, striking out three. Devin Williams struck out two in a perfect sixth, and Eric Yardley retired the side in the seventh.
Jacob Nottingham’s third homer, a two-run shot in the sixth, put the Brewers up 6-0.
Johan Oviedo (0-3), activated off the injured list earlier in the day after passing a rapid test for COVID-19, allowed six runs in 5 1/3 innings. He hit three batters with pitches.
In the opener, Wainwright (5-1) shook off an early home run, striking out nine in the seven-inning complete game.
Christian Yelich hit a one-out single in the Milwaukee first and Keston Huira followed with his 13th home run. Wainwright quickly settled down and allowed just two singles and a walk the rest of the way.
Tyler O’Neill hit a solo homer in the second and Brad Miller’s seventh homer, a solo drive in the sixth, put the Cardinals up 4-2.
Brandon Woodruff (2-4), who also went the distance, allowed three earned and seven hits. He struck out five and walked none.
St. Louis snapped a 2-2 tie with an unearned run in the fifth. Harrison Bader reached on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Jace Peterson and Tommy Edman sliced an opposite-field double to left.
O’Neill answered with his sixth homer to make it 2-1. O’Neill’s homer was the first of the series for the Cardinals, the first time since 2005 that St. Louis had gone without a home run over three games at Miller Park.