Thames, Broxton homer as Brewers beat Cardinals 6-4
ST. LOUIS — Keon Broxton and Eric Thames homered to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.
Thames' 18th of the season off Cardinals closer Seung Hwan Oh (1-3) in the ninth barely skimmed over the right field wall and broke a 4-4 tie as the Brewers won their second straight series against the Cardinals. Milwaukee had gone 0-15-2 in the previous 17 series.
Broxton drilled the first pitch he saw 489 feet into the left field seats to tie the game 2-2 in the second. It is the longest home run in Busch Stadium III's history and the second-longest this season in the major leagues.
Domingo Santana's single scored Eric Sogard to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the third.
For the second consecutive start, Brewers right-hander Zach Davies gave up four runs in five innings. He gave up nine hits and struck out one.
Oliver Drake earned his first career save for the Brewers. Josh Hader and Carlos Torres (3-4) combined for three scoreless innings of relief.
Stephen Piscotty and Aledmys Diaz had RBI singles to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the first.
Dexter Fowler tied it for the Cardinals with a solo home run in the third and again with a single scoring Matt Carpenter in the fifth.
Carpenter doubled in the first and fifth, scoring both times. He has doubled in six straight games.
Michael Wacha struggled again, giving up four runs in four innings. It is the fourth of his last five starts that the Cardinals right-hander failed to go five innings.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
The Brewers had bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, but only scored once on a single by Travis Shaw. Thames was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Shaw's hit and Santana was thrown out at home on a safety squeeze.
PINBALL WIZARD
Yadier Molina was retired on a rare 3-4-1 play in the eighth. His grounder went off Thames' glove, but Sogard barehanded the deflection and threw to Torres to get Molina at first.
FACES IN THE CROWD
Actor and comedian George Lopez was on the field during batting practice interviewing players on their superstitions for a segment in his upcoming show.
TRAINING ROOM
Brewers: OF Ryan Braun (left calf strain) fielded balls in left field during batting practice, but there is no timetable for a return.
Cardinals: INF Paul DeJong was recalled from Triple-A Memphis and 2B Kolten Wong (right triceps strain) was placed on the 10-day DL.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Junior Guerra (1-1, 2.45 ERA) will make his sixth start as the team returns home for a three-game set against San Diego and RHP Miguel Diaz (1-1, 6.92 ERA). He is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two career starts against the Padres.
Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (5-5, 2.95 ERA) will kick off a three-game series at Baltimore and RHP Kevin Gausman (3-5, 6.49 ERA). His 1.93 Interleague ERA is the fifth-lowest in MLB history (minimum eight starts).