Miles Mikolas allowed one run over six innings and Andrew Knizner had a two-run homer as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League Central title with a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
The victory gives the Cardinals (90-65) the season series against the Brewers (82-72) and the tiebreaker in the division. St. Louis leads Milwaukee by 7 1/2 games.
Milwaukee remained 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia (83-70) for the final wild-card spot as the Phillies lost to the Cubs, 2-1. The Brewers play their final eight games at home, while Philadelphia plays its final nine on the road.
Mikolas (12-13) allowed four hits, including Rowdy Tellez’s solo homer with one out in the sixth. He struck out nine and walked one.
The Brewers got a run off Andre Pallante in the seventh on a walk and two singles. Ryan Helsley finished with two scoreless innings.
Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser (6-10) exited while facing the second hitter in the fourth inning with what the Brewers announced as a right groin strain. With two outs, Knizner’s drive off Brent Suter just cleared the wall in center for his third homer to make it 4-0.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Brendan Donovan opened with a double to center, advanced on a groundout and came home on Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly.
St. Louis added a run in the second when Dylan Carlson doubled with one out, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
Mikolas retired the first 10 hitters before Willy Adames reached on a one-out infield single. Hunter Renfroe singled and Kolten Wong walked to load the bases with two outs, but Mikolas fanned Keston Hiura.
St. Louis made It 5-0 in the fifth on a double by Lars Nootbaar and Goldschmidt’s RBI single.
Juan Yepez’s pinch-hit RBI single put the Cards up 6-0 in the sixth. Tellez answered with his 34th homer in the bottom half.
–Field Level Media