Field Level Media
Jun 21, 2018
Brent Suter shook off the worst possible start to a game Thursday night, retiring the next 12 hitters he faced and getting plenty of help from his offense as the host Milwaukee Brewers routed the sloppy St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 at Miller Park.
Suter (8-4) gave up a homer to Matt Carpenter on the game's first pitch and then didn't allow another baserunner until he plunked Yadier Molina to lead off the fifth. By then, Milwaukee owned a 7-1 lead.
In seven innings, Suter permitted just two hits and two runs with a walk and five strikeouts, beating St. Louis for the second time this year.
Carlos Martinez (3-4) took a pounding in his fourth straight ineffective start since coming off the disabled list June 5. Martinez was shelled for eight hits and seven runs, five earned, in four innings. He walked two and fanned three.
He and two relievers got little help from the Cardinals' defense, which committed four errors that led to six unearned runs. Left fielder Marcell Ozuna also mixed in a ghastly misplay on Jesus Aguilar's two-run double in the bottom of the first, leaping at the fence in what he believed was an attempt to save a three-run homer. The ball hit halfway up the wall.
The Brewers made it 4-1 in the third on an RBI double by Travis Shaw and a bizarre wild pitch by Martinez that scored Shaw. Martinez appeared to pull up during his delivery as though he were trying to stop his pitch, but instead threw the ball about halfway between home and third as Shaw trotted home.
Manny Pina's leadoff homer in the fourth started a Milwaukee three-run rally. Lorenzo Cain added an RBI single and Shaw followed up with a sacrifice fly for a six-run advantage.
Yairo Munoz plated Molina with a two-out double down the right field line in the fifth, but Eric Thames' three-run triple and a throwing error on Christian Yelich's grounder gave Milwaukee its last four runs in the seventh.
Munoz capped the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the ninth.
Cain left the game after four innings due to a hamstring cramp.
Utility infielder Greg Garcia pitched a scoreless eighth inning for St. Louis.
--Field Level Media