Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday hit back-to-back two-out homers in the ninth of Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman to tie the game, but Casey McGehee answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth as the Brewers get past the Cardinals 8-7.
Dennys Reyes struck out Prince Fielder to start the bottom of the ninth and Tony LaRussa went to Kyle McClellan to face McGehee who hit a 2-1 fastball to left for the winner. The Cardinals nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback.
It was an off night for starter Chris Carpenter who allowed three homers in five innings of work. In all, he allowed seven runs, five of which were earned. Down 5-0 in the top of the fourth, St. Louis had a chance to do some damage on lefty Randy Wolf. The Cardinals had the bases loaded with no-outs and Brendan Ryan was walked forcing in a run. Chris Carpenter hit a slow rolling ground ball to score the second run and with runners on second and third, Felipe Lopez flew out to end the threat.
Down 7-2 in the seventh, a throwing error put Lopez on second base. Ryan Ludwick popped out and the Milwaukee pitching coach came out to talk to Wolf. It didn’t help. Albert Pujols hit a two run shot to make it 7-4 ending Wolf’s night.
In the ninth, the Brewers called on Trevor Hoffman, one of the top save men all-time. Hoffman got two pop ups around a double from Lopez setting up Pujols for more heroics. Again, he delivered hitting a two run shot just over the wall in left field to pull the Cardinals to within one. Then, Matt Holliday followed with a solo blast to tie the game.
It was the second blown save this weekend for Hoffman, who picked up the win this time. Pujols finished with four RBIs, all of them coming with two outs and he now has 10 on the season to go with four home runs.Â
The Cardinals are home on Monday for the first time to face the Houston Astros.
