William Contreras brought in the run that put the Brewers ahead in the 10th inning and ended with two RBIs as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Friday night.
“Brewers manager Pat Murphy praised Contreras, saying, “He earned his keep tonight. I can assure you he’ll be earning even more in the future.”
In the 10th inning, Contreras hit a single with two outs against Ryan Helsley (1-2), bringing in Blake Perkins, who was on base, and breaking the 1-1 tie. Hoby Milner closed out the middle of the Cardinals’ lineup in the bottom of the 10th to secure his first save in 242 appearances.
“I’m grateful for where I am and the chance I got today to earn that save,” Milner said. “And I’m just happy we came out with the win.”
Milwaukee clinched their second consecutive victory, while St. Louis suffered their fourth loss in six games, failing to score more than three runs in any of those games.
“We’re pushing through,” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol. “We need to score more runs, that’s no secret, and this was another game where we didn’t.”
In the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals rallied with two outs to erase a 1-0 deficit. Masyn Winn walked, and Alec Burleson singled, forcing Milwaukee reliever Trevor Megill out of the game. Joel Payamps (1-1) hit Iván Herrera with a pitch to load the bases before Brendan Donovan drew a walk to tie the game at 1.
Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta threw six innings without letting the opposing team score, striking out seven, walking two, and giving up four hits.
So far this season, batters facing Peralta have a batting average of .169 (14 hits out of 83 at-bats). Among National League pitchers, only Dylan Cease from San Diego has a better record, with a .130 batting average against him.
Contreras put the Brewers ahead 1-0 in the third inning with a double that brought in Blake Perkins, who got on base with a double. Contreras has gotten hits in 13 of his last 14 games.
Peralta spoke about his chemistry with Contreras, saying, “We have a good bond outside of baseball, and when it’s game time, we work well together.”
Cardinals pitcher Kyle Gibson allowed one run and three hits in six innings. The 36-year-old right-hander has pitched at least six innings in all four of his starts this season.
