Tyrone Taylor drove in one run and scored twice to lead the visiting Milwaukee Brewers past the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 on Tuesday.
Taylor hit a double, drew two walks and stole a base for the Brewers (85-66), who reduced their magic number to win the National League Central to six games.
William Contreras hit a homer and scored twice for the Brewers while Richie Palacios hit a home run for the Cardinals (67-84).
Alec Burleson hit an RBI double, stole a base and scored a run for St. Louis before exiting with a broken thumb suffered on a headfirst slide in the first inning.
The Brewers used reliever Trevor Megill as their opener. He allowed two runs on three hits, a walk and two stolen bases in one inning.
Colin Rea (6-6) replaced Megill and assumed the bulk innings role. He allowed one run on three hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out two.
Cardinals starting pitcher Drew Rom (1-3) allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three.
The Cardinals broke out to 2-0 lead in the first inning. Lars Nootbaar hit a leadoff single, stole second base, and scored on Burleson’s ground-rule double.
Burleson stole third base and scored on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly.
Contreras cut the Milwaukee deficit to 2-1 in the third inning with his homer, his 17th of the season.
The Brewers surged ahead 5-2 in the fourth inning. Consecutive doubles by Willy Adames, Josh Donaldson, Taylor and Sal Frelick knocked Rom out of the game.
Mark Canha drove in the inning’s fourth run with a fielder’s-choice grounder.
Palacios cut the margin to 5-3 in the fifth with his fifth home run.
In the eighth inning, Taylor drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, took third on a groundout and scored on Andruw Monasterio’s sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Milwaukee increased its lead to 7-3 in the ninth when Contreras walked, stole second base and scored on a single by Adames.
–Field Level Media