By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Louis Cardinals narrowly escaped, but held on to top the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Friday night in the opener of the three game series against their NL Central rivals.
The Cardinals scored first in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brendan Donovan led the inning off with a walk and advanced to third base in the next at bat on a single by Nolan Arenado. Nolan Gorman pushed Donovan across to score on a deep fly ball to right field that was caught by Jackson Chourio, taking the 1-0 lead on the sacrifice fly.
Two more runs scored in the fifth for the Redbirds, the first coming thanks to the speed of Masyn Winn. Winn singled after Victor Scott II flew out to start the inning, and then stole second base with Lars Nootbaar at the plate, advancing to third on a fielding error by Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz. Nootbaar singled to drive in Winn extending the lead. After Willson Contreras doubled, advancing Nootbaar to third, Donovan hit a single to score Nootbaar, pushing the Cardinals lead to 3-0.
The Brewers narrowed the lead, scoring their runs in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, with two outs Chuorio doubled into center field with two outs, before scoring on a single by Christian Yelich. Then, in the seventh, Sal Frelick led the inning off with a double, chasing Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore from the game and bringing Kyle Leahy on. With the bases loaded, after a single by Rhys Hoskins and a walk to Isaac Collins, a ground out by Jake Bauers scored Frelick.
Liberatore earned the win in the game, improving to 2-2 on the season, pitching six innings and giving up two runs, just one earned, on five hits and striking out four. Ryan Helsley notched his fourth save, giving up just one hit in the ninth inning. At the plate, Nootbaar (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB) and Donovan (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB) led the way.
St. Louis and Milwaukee continue their series tomorrow at Busch Stadium. Sonny Gray (3-0, 3.41 ERA) starts for the Cardinals against Quinn Priester (1-0, 1.93 ERA) for the Brewers. First pitch is at 1:15pm, pregame coverage will be joined at 1:05 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.