The Milwaukee Brewers dealt the St. Louis Cardinals one of the most crushing losses you’ll see during Sunday’s series finale.
The Brewers entered the bottom of the 9th down 5-1 against the Cardinals, and appeared on the verge of losing the series at home to St. Louis. The offense woke up a bit against Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos, with Jackie Bradley Jr. opening the inning with a ground-rule double, followed by an RBI single by Luke Maile. After a strikeout, Jace Peterson doubled and Eduardo Escobar walked to load the bases. This prompted a Cardinals pitching change, as they turned to closer Alex Reyes to try to get the final two outs. It also meant the Brewers needed to turn to their bench, as the pitcher’s spot was coming up next.
Enter Daniel Vogelbach, who was just activated on Sept. 1 after an extended minor league rehab stint. Vogelbach is a classic example of a power-hitting strikeout-prone bat, so it was clear what the Brewers were looking for down three in the ninth. Believe it or not, they got it.
SPEECHLESS #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/yBnQTlJOva
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 5, 2021
They don’t come much more dramatic than that. It makes it even better that it was the only outcome that would have won the game for the Brewers — even a bases-clearing hit would have only tied it.
The Brewers were already cruising to the NL Central title, with this win extending their division lead to 11 games over second-place Cincinnati. The fallout may be more brutal for the Cardinals, who are now 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot and struggling to put any real momentum together. They’ll have to bounce back from this very quickly to keep their heads above water in the playoff race.
