Luken Baker hit a single with two outs in the 10th inning to bring in the winning run and give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals won two of three games against the NL Central-leading Brewers, securing extra-inning victories on both of the last two nights. St. Louis had won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.
“That was a fun game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There was a lot of moving parts to that one. Both teams played well.”
Milwaukee was 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.
“I guess this is a phase we’re going through,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “A lot of it’s youth. There’s a lot of bright spots at the same time. Just very, very frustrating.”
In the 10th inning, St. Louis had a runner on third with two outs when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was called up from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, made his first major league appearance since August 8.
Baker came in as a pinch-hitter, got ahead 3-1 in the count, and hit a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn. Baker, who has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, has driven in runs in each of his last six games.
“As far as the RBIs go, that’s my job, and that’s the ultimate goal, right?” Baker said. “You have to score runs to win games. … The job is to score more than the other team, so the more I can drive runs in, the better.”
With regular closer Ryan Helsley unavailable after pitching two innings the night before, Ryan Fernandez pitched the 10th inning to earn his second save in four chances.
Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base, and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to get his second save in four opportunities.
