Randy Wolf wins duel with Adam Wainwright to give Milwaukee the win
Randy Wolf looked more like an ace than Adam Wainwright did Wednesday night as he gave up only three hits in more than eight innings of work to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-2 win over Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Both pitchers looked good early on with neither getting a runner to second base in the first four innings. The Brewers struck first getting on the board in the fifth inning. Lorenzo Cain started the inning with a double to center field. Cain stole third to put himself in scoring position. After a single by George Kottaras, Cain scored the first run of the game.
The Brewers offense gave Wolf a little more cushion in the seventh inning. Casey McGehee got on base due to a fielder’s choice that saw Prince Fielder thrown out at second base. On the next play, Lorenzo Cain hit a triple to right-center field that scored McGehee. Cain got the chance to score next when Alcides Escobar hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
Wolf nearly saw his gem go for nothing after handing the game over to the bullpen with one out into the eighth inning. He was pulled out after giving up a double to Albert Pujols. John Axford relieved Wolf and promptly gave up a double to Matt Holliday that allowed Pujols to score.
Axford put another runner on base when he hit Skip Schumaker who had subbed in for Allen Craig. Two batters later Prince Fielder would commit a fielding error giving Matt Holliday a chance to score to close the lead to 3-2 with two outs and runners on the corners. Axford was pulled for Trevor Hoffman, the career saves leader in baseball, to get the final out of the game.
Brendan Ryan struck out to end the Cardinals’ rally and give the Brewers the win. Hoffman was credited with his seventh save of the season.
The win gave the Brewers the sweep in the two-game series with the Cardinals improving their record to 57-64. Milwaukee has the day off on Thursday, and will start a three game series with the NL West leading San Diego Padres on Friday.
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Cardinals and dropped St. Louis to 65-53, two and a half games behind the Cincinnati Reds.
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