For the second night in a row, the Brewers and Cardinals needed extra innings to decide the outcome. On Tuesday night, it was Matt Carpenter clubbing a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Brewers 5-3 in St. Louis.
Twice, the Brewers had late leads but couldn’t hold them.
Domingo Santana singled home Eric Thames to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, only to see Tommy Pham score from second on a pair of wild pitches by Jacob Barnes to tie the game 2-2.
One inning later, Orlando Arcia singled in a run to put the Brewers up 3-2, but Greg Garcia’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th would tie the game at 3.
Dominic Leone (1-2) worked the top of the 11th and held the Brewers off the scoreboard. Paul DeJong then reached base with an infield single, sending Carpenter to the plate against J.J. Hoover (0-1). Carpenter ripped a curve ball down the line and over the wall in right field to finish off the Cardinal rally.
Eric Thames put the Brewers on top in the first inning with his fourth home run of the year. That would be the only run that Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez would allow in six innings of work.
Brewers starter Brent Suter held the Cardinals to a single run on four hits over 5 1/3 before the Brewers went to their bullpen.
Brewers starting catcher Manny Pina left the game in the seventh inning with tightness in his right calf. Centerfielder Lorenzo Cain didn’t play and is listed as day-to-day after bruising his Achilles tendon one day earlier.
The Brewers and Cardinals play a day game today. Junior Guerra will make his first start of the season for the Brewers. He’ll face Adam Wainwright (0-1, 7.36) in the rubber game of the series. First pitch is set for 12:15 p.m. today.
AUDIO: J.J. Hoover on surrendering the game winning home run :09
AUDIO: Craig Counsell says they weren’t able to close this one out in the 9th :11