After 558 days of dismissal, fans were admitted to Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon, and they may have been even happier home than when they entered. With the game tied in the eighth game, Nolan Arenado delivered a two-run, running home game to the left field, and the Cardinals scored the Brewers, 3-1, at their home opening.
The Cardinals are now 5-2 on the young season and have raised their winning streak to four.
The match was pointless to the top of the third, but there was early drama. After a walk to Kolten Wong to lead the game, Adam Wainwright soon finds himself in a base-laden jam with two out in the first. Lorenzo Cain shot a ball deep into midfield, and Dylan Carlson caught a good run – probably saving three runs. And so the game remained pointless, and it would remain so until the third.
Milwaukee second baseman Keston Hiura led the third innings with twins. Wainwright tried to pick Hiura in second place, but a stray throw went into midfield, where Carlson played it wrong. The two errors in the game enabled Hiura to score, and the Brewers had a 1-0 score that was kept until the last three frames.
Wainwright went through five innings, allowing just one run on five shots, two runs and six hits. The Brewers starter, Corbin Burnes, looked very sharp in his start, with six pointless frames and nine shots. In fact, Burnes’ only spots were a Matt Carpenter hit by the pitch and a triple turn to Tommy Edman to lead the game.
With Burnes out of the game after six overs, Milwaukee turned to Eric Yardley for the seventh time. Yardley quickly got the first two times, but a base hit from Yadier Molina and a doubling from Carlson led to Yardley deliberately walking Justin Williams. With the basics loaded, Tyler O’Neill was able to bounce a ground ball to a second for a single time, enabling Yadi to tie the game.
After the clean eighth innings of Giovanny Gallegos, the Cardinals had to face reliever Drew Rasmussen in the bottom half of the frame. Edman struck, and Austin Dean (Gallegos’ pinch) took a turn and set the stage completely too late for Nolan to make his mark after being 0-for-3 up to that point.
Nolan Arenado says it was the first curtain call in his career.
Jeff Jones (@jmjones) 8 April 2021
With a new 3-1 lead, Alex Reyes got his ninth innings and was able to score the last three playoffs. For Reyes, it was his third save of the year.
These teams leave tomorrow, but they will take part in it again on Saturday. Carlos Martinez will play against Adrian Houser in a game at 13:15 at Busch Stadium.