Arcia's single lifts Brewers over Cardinals
Orlando Arcia ripped a two-out, RBI single to right field to send home Jesus Aguilar with the deciding run in the seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday at Miller Park to capture the finale of a three-game series between the two National League Central rivals.
The win granted the Brewers their most victories during the month of May in franchise history. Milwaukee finished the month 19-8 with an open date on Thursday.
Milwaukee starter Junior Guerra was lifted after six innings of scoreless, four-hit pitching with seven strikeouts. He was replaced by Jeremy Jeffress, who promptly surrendered a leadoff home run in the seventh to the Cardinals' Harrison Bader that tied the game at 1 before St. Louis moved ahead.
Christian Yelich started the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff homer over the center-field fence on the first pitch of the inning thrown by Cardinals reliever Tyler Lyons to tie the game at 2.
Cardinals reliever Sam Tuivailala (1-1), the fourth St. Louis pitcher, took the loss after allowing four hits -- including Arcia's game-winner -- in his one-inning stint.
Jeffress had gone 23 straight appearances without allowing a run, which tied a single-season Brewers' record. He ended up with the win to move to 5-0 on the year after allowing two runs (one earned) in an inning of work.
Josh Hader got five outs in the eighth and ninth innings but was pulled in favor of Corey Knebel with runners on the corners. Knebel struck out Jose Martinez to earn his fifth save of the season.
Alex Reyes started the game for the Cardinals and allowed three hits and two walks and hit a batter in four innings while striking out two. Reyes was activated from the 60-day disabled list on Wednesday and pitched in his first major league game since Sept. 29, 2016.
Yelich drove home Erik Kratz with a bases-loaded groundout in the bottom of the fifth to grant the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
Bader tied the game in the seventh off Jeffress and then Tommy Pham's pinch hit sacrifice fly later in the inning gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
--Field Level Media