Adam Wainwright Shuts Out the Brewers, Future Bleak

Sep 17, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) throws to a Milwaukee Brewers batter during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Fresh off their 12-inning nail biter of a win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday the Milwaukee Brewers were back at it for game two of their do-or-die series on Wednesday.

The Brewers sent Mike Fiers (6-2, 1.78 ERA) to take on Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright (18-9, 2.53 ERA). It was Fiers first start since hitting Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a pitch, likely ending his season.

Fiers was fantastic through six innings for Milwaukee, and unlucky in the seventh. Wainwright on the other hand saw base runners all game long, but the Brewers couldn’t plate any of them, in what is becoming a common refrain and the Cardinals took a 2-0 win.

Neither team scored in the first three innings of the game. Fiers faced the minimum through those three innings, allowing only a Daniel Descalso walk to lead off the third inning, but Descalso was caught stealing.

The Brewers had one base runner in each of the first three innings. Jonathan Lucroy had a two-out walk in the first, and Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez had singles in the second and third innings.

The Brewers had the game’s first threat in the top of the fourth. Lucroy led off with an infield single into the hole at short. After outs by Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun, Gerardo Parra singled to right to move Lucroy to third. Lyle Overbay walked to load the bases for Jean Segura. Segura lined hard to center but it was right at Bourjos to end the inning.

It was still scoreless at the end of five innings, with neither team mounting a threat in that span. Fiers still hadn’t allowed a hit through five innings, and didn’t allow another base runner since his third inning walk of Descalso.

Wainwright broke up Fiers no hitter with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning with a grounder back up the middle, but Fiers struck out Matt Carpenter to end the inning.

Wainwright put the Brewers down in order for the first time in the top of the seventh inning. The Cardinals finally broke the tie in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Holliday drew a one out walk.

Matt Adams followed with a single up the middle past a diving Scooter Gennett. Carlos Gomez fell down fielding the ball, and made a bad throw back to the infield allowing Holliday to come home and take a 1-0 lead.

Jhonny Peralta followed with a single up the middle of his own to make it 2-0 Cardinals. Yadier Molina flew out to Braun for the second out. Descalso grounded out to Gennett to end the inning.

Fiers went seven innings and allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out seven Cardinals.

Gennett led off the top of the eighth with a single to left-center, but was erased on a double-play ground out by Lucroy. Ramirez grounded out to a diving Carpenter to end the inning.

Zach Duke came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth for Milwaukee. Peter Bourjos grounded out to third for the first out of the inning of Duke. Wainwright popped out to Gennett for the second out and Carpenter popped out to end the inning.

Wainwright stayed in the game to pitch the ninth against the struggling Milwaukee offense. Braun struck out looking for the first out, on a pitch that was well off the plate. Parra grounded out to second to cap a 10-pitch at bat. Overbay grounded out to third to end the game.

The loss drops Milwaukee 2 ½ games behind the Pirates in the race for the second wild card. Fiers picked up the loss in a tragic miscarriage of justice. Wainwright got the win for St. Louis, because of course he did.

He allowed seven hits in the game, and walked two Brewers but only once did Milwaukee even get a runner to third base. The series wraps up tomorrow with Kyle Lohse taking on Shelby Miller in a must-win for the Brewers.