Mike Fiers Snaps Brewers Skid, Halts Cardinals

Sep 5, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Khris Davis (18) is greeted in the dugout after hitting a 2-run homer in the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Brewers mired in a disastrous nine-game losing streak were back at it on Friday against the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in a divisional matchup.

The Brewers sent their best pitcher for the last month, Mike Fiers (4-2, 1.93 ERA), to take on John Lackey (13-8, 3.74 ERA overall, 2-1, 4.23 ERA with St. Louis).

Thankfully for the Brewers and their fans, the Crew snapped their nine-game losing streak and beat the Cardinals 6-2 behind another great start by Mike Fiers.

The Brewers opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning after two-and-a-half innings of pretty quiet baseball. Lyle Overbay and Jean Segura had back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.

Fiers bunted them up a base and both came around to score on a Scooter Gennett single back up the middle to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.

The Brewers extended the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Segura singled with one out in the inning and advanced to second on a Fiers sacrifice bunt. He came around to score on a Gennett double over the head of Pete Bourjos in center to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead.

Jonathan Lucroy knocked a single to left to bring in Gennett and make it 4-0 Milwaukee. The Cardinals answered back in the top of the sixth on a two-out home run (19) by Jhonny Peralta to make it 4-1 Milwaukee.

The Brewers were having none of that though, and after a Gerardo Parra single, Khris Davis belted his 22^nd home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning making it 6-1 Milwaukee.

The Cardinals answered back in the top of the seventh against Fiers. After a Kolton Wong whiff, Bourjos doubled to left ahead of a Daniel Descalso whiff. With two outs Oscar Taveras singled to second to bring in Bourjos and make it 6-2 Brewers.

That was it for Fiers, who gave way to Zach Duke with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and two left handed hitters coming up. Duke got Matt Carpenter to fly out to end the inning. Fiers went 6 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out five.

Tyler Lyons replaced Lackey in the bottom of the seventh for the Cardinals. Lackey went six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out six. After a Gennett fly out, Lucroy got hit by a pitch and Braun singled to left to put two on for the Brewers. But they were left stranded.

Jonathan Broxton came on to pitch the eighth inning for Milwaukee, with Ron Roenicke taking no chances with a four-run lead. He had no issues with the Cardinals. Justin Masterson came on to pitch the bottom half of the frame for the Cards and set the Brewers down in order.

Francisco Rodriguez came on to pitch the ninth for Milwaukee in a non-save situation. Yadier Molina led off with a swinging-bung single down the third base line. Wong followed with a single to right to put two on with nobody out.

K-Rod came back and struck out Bourjos for the first out. Descalso reached on a fielder’s choice, but Wong was out at second on the grounder. Molina moved to third on the play. A.J. Pierzynski flew out to left to end the game with Milwaukee on top.

Fiers got the win for Milwaukee, snapping a nine-game losing streak. Lackey got the loss for the Cardinals, and continues to struggle since his trade from Boston.

The series continues tomorrow at 6:10 pm when Kyle Lohse (12-8, 3.68 ERA) takes on Lance Lynn (14-8, 2.85 ERA).