Rhys Hoskins, Jake Bauers, and Joey Ortiz each hit a home run, putting a halt to Sonny Gray’s momentum as the Milwaukee Brewers secured a 7-1 victory over the struggling St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.
This loss marked the fifth consecutive defeat for the Cardinals, who began a four-game series against the NL Central-leading Brewers. Milwaukee has now won six consecutive games against St. Louis, with the streak starting last season.
Milwaukee’s William Contreras and Christian Yelich both had three hits out of four at-bats. Jared Koenig (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings in relief, managing to escape a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fifth inning.
Despite being one of the few bright spots for the last-place Cardinals this season, Sonny Gray (4-2) couldn’t halt their slide.
Gray, who signed a three-year, $75 million contract in the offseason, had an impressive start to the season, allowing only six runs in his first five starts, with just three being earned. His ERA of 0.89 was the lowest by any Cardinals pitcher in his first five appearances with the team since 1910.
However, the Brewers managed to score six runs against Gray in his five innings of pitching on Thursday. Prior to this game, Gray had only given up one home run all season, but the Brewers hit three home runs against him in this game.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy noted that the team had a particularly effective approach against Gray in this game, praising their early swings at his fastball.
Gray acknowledged the Brewers’ effective approach, mentioning that they capitalized on early swings at his fastball, which doesn’t happen often.
Milwaukee took the lead early in the game by scoring three runs in the first inning, marking the first time this season that Gray had allowed a run before the fifth inning.
