On April 22, the Cardinals locked down a big win against the Brewers, one that also put them into an early season tie for first place in the division with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The game got off to a fast start. Kolten Wong singled an 0-1 pitch from Adrian Houser into right field that scored Dexter Fowler in the second inning. Fowler followed that up later, the the fourth, when he hit a two run home run into the Cardinals bullpen, his first blast of the year. The Brewers however, answered back, tying the game at three each thanks to two home runs allowed by Jack Flaherty in the fifth. One to Ryan Braun to the right field corner, and another to Hernan Perez, who hit it into the Brewer bullpen. The Cardinals, however, would bite back again. This time, Paul Goldschmidt got a hold of a pitch from Houser, sending it over the wall in left center for his 9th home run of the season, making it 5-3. Flaherty surrendered another home run to Yasmani Grandal the following inning, setting the score at 5-4, and ending Flaherty’s night. He finished with six innings pitched, three hits allowed, each of them home runs, and four runs allowed. The highlight of his night, however, was his strikeout total, as he punched out 10 for the second time in his career.

“If Jack Flaherty could pitch a little deeper into games, he would be really elite,” sophomore Jacob Brewer said.

By this time, Houser was out of the game for Milwaukee and the score remained at 5-4. Both Alex Wilson and Jeremy Jeffress had entered the game and held down the score, as did John Brebbia for the Cardinals, which brought the game to the bottom half of the seventh. The Brewers trotted righty Jacob Barnes out from their bullpen for the inning. The first batter, Matt Carpenter, reached on a misplay by Braun in left, and the flood gates opened from there. The bases were then loaded for Marcell Ozuna, who walked, and then Jose Martinez followed that up with a sacrifice fly. Yadier Molina then drove in another run on a single to right field. That was followed up by another single, this time off the bat of Fowler, who drove in another run, making the score 9-4. Rookie Lane Thomas came through after Fowler, driving in two more on a single into left field. That single ended the night for Barnes, and Aaron Wilkerson was brought out of the bullpen. The first batter he faced, Kolten Wong, was walked, and the floodgates remained open from there, with still only one out. Paul Goldschmidt drove in another run to capitalize the seven run inning, making the score 12-4 heading into the eighth inning.

“The Cardinal offense is rolling right now. It’s nice to see for sure, and it is really good to see,” sophomore Ben Hostetter said.

The Cardinals turned to Dominic Leone to lock down the eighth inning, which he did, and then faced Wilkerson again in the bottom half, who remained in the game to eat innings. Fowler hit an RBI single, his fourth of the game that inning to finish off the Cardinals scoring at 13. For the 9th, the Cardinals turned to strikeout machine Giovanny Gallegos, who allowed two hits, one a solo home run to Travis Shaw that went half way up the centerfield berm, and struck out Hernan Perez to end the game.

With the win last night, the Cardinals improve to 13-9, and the Brewers regress to a 13-11 record. Tonight, the two teams face off again, as the Cardinals send Daniel Ponce De Leon to the mound for his 2019 debut against Zach Davies, who is 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA. The game starts at 6:45, and will be televised on Fox Sports Midwest, and heard on KMOX 1120.