St. Louis Cardinals win 17th straight game, clinch National League wild-card spot
ST. LOUIS — For the second time in two games, the Milwaukee Brewers took part in a game that ended in a massive celebration.
Except this time, they were the ones making a beeline for the visitor’s dugout.
Brandon Woodruff started but pitched only four innings, and the lesser lights of Milwaukee’s bullpen were no match for a St. Louis Cardinals offense that just can’t be stopped right now.
The result was a 6-2 Brewers loss at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night, the fifth in a row to the Cardinals, who extended a franchise record by winning their 17th consecutive game.
More notable, they clinched the second and final wild-card spot in the National League after a performance led by old reliable Adam Wainwright, who started and won his 20th career game against the Brewers, and three home runs off Milwaukee pitchers.
The Brewers collected nine hits on the night but scored only two runs, on a fourth-inning Luis Urías homer.
The highlight of the opening three innings for Milwaukee was a pair of terrific defensive plays in left by Christian Yelich.
He ended the first inning with a running, diving catch of a sinking liner off the bat of Nolan Arenado.
Then in the third he kept St. Louis off the board by playing Tyler O’Neill’s double into the left-field corner well and making an accurate relay throw to Kolten Wong. Wong, in turn, made a strong throw home to Omar Narváez to cut down a sliding Paul Goldschmidt.
MLB PLAYOFF SCHEDULE:Postseason march to World Series starts Oct. 5
The Brewers had a runner on in the fourth when Urías hit his 22nd homer of the season, a shot off the “Big Mac Land” sign on the facing of the third deck in left that made it a 2-0 game.
“Luis did a nice job and the homer’s nice,” said manager Craig Counsell, whose team wrapped up the Central Division title in its previous game Sunday with an 8-4 victory over the New York Mets at American Family Field.