ADAMS HITS FOR CYCLE, PACES CARDS ROUT
Redbirds Reclaim 1st Place
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 16 (AP) – Matt Adams became the third major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 15-6 romp over the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. The victory, coupled with Pittsburgh’s 14-9 defeat at the hands of Boston, moves the Cardinals back into first place by half a game in the National League’s Central Division with 12 days remaining in the regular season. It was a banner day for Adams, in every respect. In addition to hitting for the cycle, he set single player club season highs in hits (5) and runs batted in (6). The Cardinals, as a team, also set season highs in runs (15) and hits (22). In fact, the 22 hits amassed by the Cardinals in this game was the third most by a National League club this year.
St. Louis set the tone for the game in the bottom of the first inning. Consecutive one-out singles off the bats of Jon Jay and Matt Holliday put runners on first and second and Adams followed with a home run to right, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. St. Louis made it 4-0 in the second when Matt Carpenter singled home Peter Bourjos, who had singled with one out and stole second.
The Brewers cut the deficit to two runs in the top of the third. Jean Segura led off with a base hit and advanced to second when St. Louis starter Lance Lynn walked his counterpart, Wily Peralta. It briefly appeared as though Lynn would escape the inning with no damage when he fanned Carlos Gomez and Scooter Gennett, but Jonathan Lucroy’s two-out double cleared the bases and pulled Milwaukee to within 4-2.
The Cardinals immediately responded in the bottom of the third. Adams doubled with one out, advancing to third when left fielder Gerardo Parra misplayed the ball in the corner. Jhonny Peralta grounded to second for the second out with the infield in, with Adams holding at third, but Yadier Molina came through with a base hit, scoring Peralta to up the lead to 5-2. Kolten Wong followed with a single, putting runners on first and second, and Bourjos doubled both runners home, giving St. Louis a 7-2 advantage.
The teams exchanged runs in the fourth. Matt Clark’s solo homer briefly pulled the Brewers to within four runs but Adams singled with two outs in the bottom half and scored on Jhonny Peralta’s double to reclaim a five-run Cardinals advantage.
After Clark belted his second homer of the game to make the score 8-4 in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals blew the contest open and once for all with a seven-run bottom half. Holliday walked leading off against reliever Marco Estrada and Adams followed with a cycle-clinching triple, giving St. Louis a 9-4 lead. Jeremy Jeffress replaced Estrada and promptly yielded five consecutive hits accounting for four more runs, before being replaced by Zach Duke, who recorded the final two outs of the inning, but not before two more runs had scored. The inning ended with the Cardinals ahead, 15-4, and the game all but over.
The Brewers managed a pair of consolation runs off of St. Louis reliever Tyler Lyons, but it had no practical impact on the outcome.
While the Cardinals have moved a half-game in front of the Pirates in the standings, Pittsburgh has a game in hand, so the two clubs are even in the loss column. The teams have no head-to-head contests remaining on the schedule. As of now, the Pirates hold the top NL wildcard slot, with the Reds in possession of the second wildcard, two games behind. The Giants are two games behind the Pirates and three games behind the Reds in the wildcard chase.
9/16/2014, Mil14-StL14, Busch Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Brewers 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 2 0 6 11 2 7 0
2014 Cardinals 3 1 3 1 0 7 0 0 x 15 22 1 9 1
Brewers AB R H BI AVG Cardinals AB R H BI AVG
Gomez,C cf 5 0 0 0 .270 Carpenter,M 3b 5 0 1 1 .254
Gennett 2b 4 0 0 0 .287 Jay rf 4 2 3 0 .295
Nelson,J p 0 0 0 0 .050 Pham lf 0 0 0 0 .000
Reynolds ph 1 0 0 0 .201 Holliday lf 4 2 1 0 .280
Lucroy c 3 0 3 2 .311 Lyons p 1 0 0 0 .000
Gomez,H pr 1 1 0 0 .000 Adams,Ma 1b 5 3 5 6 .293
Ramirez,Ar 3b 3 0 0 0 .255 Peralta,Jh ss 5 1 2 2 .285
Maldonado ph 2 1 1 0 .190 Molina,Y c 5 2 2 1 .293
Braun rf 4 0 1 1 .274 Wong 2b 5 2 3 1 .224
Parra,G lf 4 0 0 0 .235 Bourjos cf 5 2 3 3 .248
Clark 1b 3 2 2 2 .211 Lynn p 3 0 1 0 .078
Davis,K ph 1 0 1 1 .244 Taveras ph 2 1 1 1 .215
Rogers,J 1b 0 0 0 0 .000 44 15 22 15
Segura ss 3 1 2 0 .224
Duke p 0 0 0 0 .000
Weeks,R 2b 1 0 0 0 .262
Peralta,W p 0 1 0 0 .115
Overbay ph 1 0 0 0 .237
Estrada p 0 0 0 0 .031
Jeffress p 0 0 0 0 .000
Herrera,E ss 2 0 1 0 .278
38 6 11 6
Brewers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Peralta,W L 11-11 3.0 9 7 7 0 2 54 35 3.46
Estrada 2.0 6 3 3 2 0 53 31 4.37
Jeffress 0.0 5 5 5 0 0 18 10 3.62
Duke 1.0 1 0 0 1 2 17 10 2.70
Nelson,J 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 29 19 3.55
8.0 22 15 15 4 6 171 105
Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Lynn W 12-10 6.0 7 4 4 1 5 78 56 3.28
Lyons S 1 3.0 4 2 2 0 1 39 27 3.55
9.0 11 6 6 1 6 117 83
Mil: Overbay batted for Peralta,W in the 4th
Herrera,E inserted at ss in the 6th
Weeks,R inserted at 2b in the 7th
Gomez,H ran for Lucroy in the 8th
Maldonado batted for Ramirez,Ar in the 8th
Davis,K batted for Clark in the 8th
Gomez,H moved to 3b in the 8th
Maldonado moved to c in the 8th
Rogers,J inserted at 1b in the 8th
Reynolds batted for Nelson,J in the 9th
StL: Taveras batted for Lynn in the 6th
Jay moved to lf in the 7th
Taveras moved to rf in the 7th
Pham inserted at lf in the 9th
E-Parra,G 2, Peralta,Jh. 2B-Lucroy 2(47), Maldonado(5), Adams,Ma(36),
Peralta,Jh 2(36), Bourjos(11). 3B-Adams,Ma(4). HR-Clark 2(3), Adams,Ma(13).
RBI-Lucroy 2(67), Braun(62), Clark 2(3), Davis,K(69), Carpenter,M(54),
Adams,Ma 6(74), Peralta,Jh 2(69), Molina,Y(44), Wong(40), Bourjos 3(30),
Taveras(22). SB-Bourjos(7). K-Gomez,C, Gennett, Braun 2, Parra,G, Overbay,
Carpenter,M, Holliday 2, Peralta,Jh, Molina,Y, Lynn. BB-Peralta,W,
Carpenter,M, Jay 2, Holliday. HBP-Lucroy. HB-Lyons.
GWRBI: Adams,Ma
Temperature: 84, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 10 MPH.
Attendance: 43,537
Game Time: 3:05