Starter Corbin Burnes tossed four scoreless innings in a tune-up for the postseason to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to 3-0 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
With the NL Central title already clinched, the Brewers (90-69) were able to pull Burnes after 66 pitches with a 2-0 lead. Burnes allowed five hits, striking out four and walking one.
Julio Teheran (3-5) followed with four scoreless innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts and no walks in earning the decision. Ethan Small survived a pair of two-out walks in the ninth for his first career save.
Dakota Hudson (6-3) allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings, striking out three and walking three for the Cardinals (69-90).
Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the first when Christian Yelich doubled to open and William Contreras followed with an RBI single, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games.
The Brewers added a run in the third. Garrett Mitchell, activated earlier in the day after being on the injured list since April 19 with a left shoulder injury, doubled to left in his first at-bat. Yelich followed with an RBI single to right.
St. Louis loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a walk and two bloop singles, but Burnes got Juniel Querecuto on a soft liner and then fanned Masyn Winn for the right-hander’s 200th strikeout of the season.
Milwaukee made it 3-0 in the sixth when Carlos Santana led off with a single, took third on a single by Mark Canha and came home on a double-play grounder.
Milwaukee closes the regular season at home with three games against the Chicago Cubs, who went into Thursday night’s game at Atlanta tied with the Miami Marlins for the final NL wild-card spot.
–Field Level Media