BACK-TO-BACK JACKS OPEN CREW’S ATTACK

Gomez, Lucroy Supply Punch; Garza Wins 11^th

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 3 (AP) – Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy hit back-to-back home runs to open the game, spoiling John Lackey’s Cardinals debut, as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated St. Louis 6-2 at Busch Stadium.  The loss, coupled with Pittsburgh’s 8-6 victory over Arizona, trimmed the Cardinals’ National League Central lead to just a half a game over the Pirates.  Matt Garza earned the win, allowing two runs over six innings of work.  Garza is now 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA in 11 road starts thus far this season.

The home runs hit by Gomez and Lucroy marked the first time a pair of teammates had opened a game with back-to-back home runs this year.  Gomez has hit in the lead-off spot 65 times for the Brewers this season, but this was only the eighth time that Lucroy had batted second.  Gomez opened the game by drilling a ball into the second level Home Run Porch in left field and Lucroy followed with his 10^th home run of the season, the ball landing in the lower level seats in straight away left field.

The Cardinals got a run back when Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the third with a single, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on Matt Holliday’s double.

The Brewers made it 3-1 in the fourth when Ryan Braun led off with a double and scored two outs later on Khris Davis’ two-bagger.

St. Louis again trimmed the lead to a single run when, in the bottom of the fourth, A.J. Pierzynski and Oscar Taveras opened with back-to-back singles.  After a fielder’s choice left runners on the corners with one out, Lackey helped himself with a base hit to left, cutting the Milwaukee advantage to 3-2.

The Brewers seized control at that point, with three runs over the next two innings.  Elian Herrera drew a four-pitch walk from Lackey to open the fifth and Garza sacrificed him to second.  Gomez fanned, but Lucroy rolled a single into left field, plating Herrera to make the score 4-2.  Braun then doubled to left, scoring Lucroy all the way from first base, putting Milwaukee on top 5-2 and ending the day for Lackey, who had was acquired by St. Louis from Boston at the trade deadline.

The Brewers padded their lead in the sixth when, with one out, Davis ripped his second double of the game and scored one out later on Herrera’s base hit.

Milwaukee has now won five of eight and is within two games of the final wildcard slot in the NL.

8/3/2014, Mil14-StL14, Busch Stadium

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Brewers           2  0  0  1  2  1  0  0  0     6  9  0     3  1

2014 Cardinals         0  0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0     2  7  0     7  1

Brewers              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Cardinals            AB  R  H BI   AVG

Gomez,C           cf  4  1  1  1  .262    Carpenter,M       3b  3  1  1  0  .254

Lucroy            c   4  2  2  2  .321    Wong              2b  4  0  1  0  .223

Braun             rf  4  1  3  1  .266    Holliday          lf  3  0  1  1  .272

Ramirez,Ar        3b  4  0  0  0  .224    Adams,Ma          1b  4  0  0  0  .292

 Duke             p   0  0  0  0  .000    Peralta,Jh        ss  3  0  0  0  .287

 Jeffress         p   0  0  0  0  .000    Pierzynski        c   4  1  1  0  .286

Weeks,R           2b  3  0  0  0  .254    Taveras           rf  3  0  1  0  .183

 Gennett          ph  1  0  0  0  .304     Maness           p   0  0  0  0  .000

Davis,K           lf  4  1  2  1  .245     Rosenthal        p   0  0  0  0  .000

Reynolds          1b  4  0  0  0  .204     Descalso         ph  1  0  0  0  .211

Herrera,E         ss  3  1  1  1  .310    Bourjos           cf  4  0  1  0  .239

Garza             p   2  0  0  0  .136    Lackey            p   2  0  1  1  .500

 Kintzler         p   0  0  0  0  .000     Siegrist         p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Segura           ss  1  0  0  0  .223     Robinson,S       rf  2  0  0  0  .188

                     34  6  9  6                               33  2  7  2

Brewers                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Garza            W 11-4          6.0  6  2  2  2  5 101  60  2.77

Kintzler         H 11            1.0  0  0  0  1  0  17   9  4.85

Duke                             1.0  0  0  0  0  1  11   7  3.32

Jeffress                         1.0  1  0  0  0  1  12   9  3.97

                                 9.0  7  2  2  3  7 141  85

Cardinals                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Lackey           L 8-12          4.2  7  5  5  1  8  68  44  3.97

Siegrist                         1.2  2  1  1  0  1  23  16  7.94

Maness                           1.2  0  0  0  0  2  12  11  2.34

Rosenthal                        1.0  0  0  0  0  0  15  11  0.82

                                 9.0  9  6  6  1 11 118  82

Mil: Gennett batted for Weeks,R in the 8th

     Gennett moved to 2b in the 8th

     Herrera,E moved to 3b in the 8th

     Segura inserted at ss in the 8th

StL: Robinson,S inserted at rf in the 7th

     Descalso batted for Rosenthal in the 9th

2B-Braun 2(18), Davis,K 2(27), Wong(8), Holliday(35). HR-Gomez,C(12),

Lucroy(10). RBI-Gomez,C(41), Lucroy 2(53), Braun(44), Davis,K(52),

Herrera,E(11), Holliday(49), Lackey(1). K-Gomez,C 2, Lucroy, Ramirez,Ar 2,

Weeks,R 2, Davis,K 2, Reynolds, Garza, Carpenter,M, Adams,Ma, Peralta,Jh,

Taveras, Bourjos, Lackey, Descalso. BB-Herrera,E, Carpenter,M, Holliday,

Peralta,Jh. SH-Garza.

GWRBI: Gomez,C

Temperature: 103, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 8 MPH.

Attendance: 43,479

Game Time: 2:39