Go crazy, folks! Brewers walk off the Cardinals, 6-5, with Vogelbach grand slam

In the final game of a 3-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers were looking to extend their lead over the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, who lost today. And boy did they. What looked to be a frustrating loss to the Cardinals turned into anything but, as Milwaukee won 6-5. But it was the way they won that was just so utterly satisfying.

The Brewers were the first to get in the board. In the bottom of the second inning, birthday boy, Pablo Reyes, took Cardinals’ starter, Jon Lester, over the left field wall to stake Milwaukee to a 1-0 lead.

That home run was beginning to look like the only offense the Brewers would muster. While they were getting on base, Milwaukee was not putting runs across the plate. No inning better demonstrated that, than the bottom of the eighth, but more about that in a bit.

As for Brewers’ pitching, Corbin Burnes had his usual nasty stuff, including a change up that was hitting 90-93 mph on the radar gun.

Even with the nasty stuff, he still gave up 3 runs of 5 innings of work. All of those runs came in what amounted to a very frustrating fourth inning. Nolan Arenado opened the inning with a single, and Tyler O’ Neil followed with a single of his own. Burnes next walked Yadier Molina to load the bases with no one out.

Edmundo Sosa plated Arenado with a sacrifice fly, and O’ Neil and Molina tagged to third and second respectively. Harrison Bader followed with one of the softest hit doubles you are apt to see to score both runs. Unfortunately if Brewers’ third baseman, Eduardo Escobar had not touched the ball, it would have been foul.

Burnes finished the inning and covered one more. He was none too happy when he was lifted from the game either as he slammed an inanimate object down and yelled something not suitable for children when Craig Counsell informed him that his day was finished.

In the top of the seventh, Jake Cousins entered the game and issued a walk to the lead off hitter, Dylan Carlson. Two hitters later, Tyler O’ Neil hit a bomb out of American Family Field. The homer looked to be a coup de gras for Milwaukee.

As I mentioned before, the Brewers were threating in a big way in the bottom of the eighth. They loaded the bases and sent the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch hitter, Christian Yelich. Yelich smoked one down the line, but Cardinals first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, was also playing the line. The ball found Goldschmidt’s glove, and the out ended the threat.

Brewers’ Nation was in utter disappointment at this stage of the game, but there was still one more inning to go. After pitching the Cardinals out of trouble in the eighth, Giovanny Gallegos back out in the bottom of the ninth. Things did not go well for him, but they sure did for Milwaukee. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a ground rule double to start off the inning. Luke Maile drove him in with a single up the middle. After Luis Urias struck out, Jace Peterson doubled into the right field corner to put runners on second and third. Gallegos then walked Eduardo Escobar to load the bases.

Cardinals manager, Mike Schildt, went to the pen in effort to stop the rally. He went to hard throwing Alex Reyes to match up with Mr. Daniel Vogelbach. On a 1-0 count, Vogelbach took him deep for the grand slam and the victory over St. Louis in what will go down in Brewers’ lore for years to come.

Milwaukee will try to take the momentum of this game into tomorrow as they welcome the Philadelphia Phillies to town tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 CT. Brandon Woodruff is on the bump for the Brewers, while send Zach Wheeler to the hill in a matchup of Cy Young candidates. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Wisconsin and broadcast on WTMJ 620 as well as the Brewers Radio Network.