Inside Pitch
Wednesday's game at Milwaukee was all about walks.
Cardinals pitchers walked nine Brewers batters, and Milwaukee manager Ken Macha elected to put the lead run on base when he ordered Albert Pujols intentionally walked with a man at second and one out in the ninth.
Two leadoff walks by Cardinals pitchers ended up scoring, and two more led to the winning run crossing the plate in the eighth inning. And Macha wasn't hurt by his gamble. Ryan Ludwick fouled out, and after Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman walked Chris Duncan to load the bases, Yadier Molina grounded into a forceout.
Skip Schumaker had led off the inning with a double, but Colby Rasmus, trying to bunt for a hit with third baseman Matt Gamel back, wound up striking out.
That was typical of the chances missed by both teams, but the key to the game probably was the fourth inning, when Brendan Ryan's two-run double sparked a four-run inning and gave Todd Wellemeyer a three-run lead.
And what did Wellemeyer do in the bottom half of the fourth? He issued one of his three leadoff walks, and then Gamel hit a two-run homer. The Brewers were back in the game and eventually tied the score in the fourth, which would be Wellemeyer's last inning.
"We needed a shutdown," manager Tony La Russa said. "It was a bad inning. He didn't get the ball where he was aiming it. He made bad pitches.
"We needed to have a shutdown there or at least limit them."
Jason Motte, the losing pitcher, also got in trouble with walks, passing two hitters after giving up a two-out double to Craig Counsell in the eighth.
"I know Jason's upset with himself," said La Russa, who didn't seem too happy about it either.
BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 4: Milwaukee's Prince Fielder beat out an infield hit with the bases loaded to break a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning. The Cardinals had six doubles in the game, but the last one led to nothing in the ninth.