Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Game of the Day (4/28/14)

With only seven games scheduled yesterday and one of those rained out, it was less likely than usual that the day's best game would be especially worthy of note. Fortunately, baseball provided Brewers 5, Cardinals 3 (12) anyway.

The game pitted Milwaukee's Yovani Gallardo against Michael Wacha of St. Louis; both pitchers have had exemplary beginnings to the season so far. Wacha also got off to a terrific start in this game, retiring the side in order in the first, working around an Aramis Ramirez walk in the second, and erasing a third-inning single by Elian Hernandez when Carlos Gomez hit into a double play.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead when Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the first with a double and was singled home one out later by Matt Holliday. Gallardo settled down quickly, however, throwing perfect innings in the second and third. The fourth inning saw the Brewers pick up another single, this one by Scooter Gennett, and another double play; the Cardinals assembled a pair of two-out singles thanks to Yadier Molina and Allen Craig, but Jhonny Peralta grounded into a force to end the threat.

A pair of Marks singled in the fifth - Reynolds in the top, Ellis in the bottom - but neither one scored. Milwaukee mounted its biggest rally to this point in the sixth, starting with a Gallardo single. Gomez was hit by a pitch to put the tying run at second with nobody out; Gennett popped up and Jonathan Lucroy flied out, but Ramirez was also hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wacha then struck out Khris Davis to leave all three runners in place.

Gallardo cracked again in the bottom of the sixth, allowing solo homers to Holliday and Craig to fall behind 3-0. His teammates finally put their bats to productive use in the seventh, however. With one out, Jeff Bianchi walked and Hernandez singled. Lyle Overbay hit for Gallardo and singled as well, breaking up what had been a shutout. Gomez reached on a bunt hit to load the bases, and Gennett singled in another run to chase Wacha from the mound. Pat Neshek struck out Lucroy, but then hit Ramirez with a 1-2 pitch to force in the tying run and guarantee that both starters would end up with no-decisions. The plunking also resulted in Ramirez's removal from the game; Reynolds moved from first base to third, and backup catcher Martin Maldonado entered at first.

Tyler Thornburg and Wil Smith combined on a hitless bottom of the seventh, walking one Cardinal and striking out three between them. Carlos Martinez also worked around a walk in the eighth, while Jim Henderson was perfect in the bottom of the inning. Trevor Rosenthal threw a spotless ninth; Brandon Kintzler would have a more adventurous time of it, allowing singles to Peralta and Ellis, then seeing Carpenter reach on a two-out Maldonado error to load the bases. Jon Jay then grounded out to send the game into additional innings.

Rosenthal walked Maldonado and allowed a Bianchi single in the tenth, but struck out the other three Brewers he faced. Zach Duke allowed a leadoff double to Holliday, but Peter Bourjos grounded to third and Holliday was thrown out in a rundown. (There may have been something unusual about this play, but if not, I have no clue what possessed Holliday to try for third on a ball hit to third.) Molina lined out, Craig walked, and Peralta flied out to prolong the game once more.

Randy Choate was perfect in the top of the eleventh, while Duke worked around a walk in the bottom of the inning. Seth Maness entered for the twelfth and allowed a leadoff double to Lucroy; Maldonado grounded to second, moving Lucroy to third, and Davis then tripled the go-ahead run home. Reynolds added a sacrifice fly to pad the lead to 5-3, and Francisco Rodriguez allowed a two-out single to Molina and walked Craig, but then retired Peralta to secure the save.

Normally, the cleanup hitter getting hit by a pitch and coming out of the game is a bad sign for his team, especially when it results in backups having to play unfamiliar defensive positions. But on this particular day, the Brewers might not have won without Aramis Ramirez's misfortune; his injury tied the game, and while Martin Maldonado made an error with two runners on in the ninth, it did not quite manage to lose the game. Those bits of serendipitous sequencing might not always break in Milwaukee's favor - but they sure seem to be doing so this month, at least.

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