Josh Hader escaped a ninth-inning jam in his 37th straight scoreless appearance and the Milwaukee Brewers held off the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 Thursday night for their third straight win.
Tyrone Taylor drove in a run for the seventh game game in a row and Luis Urías homered as the NL Central leaders increased their edge over the second-place Cardinals to 4 1/2 games.
Milwaukee first baseman Rowdy Tellez helped with his glove, ranging to catch five foul balls for outs. Overall, Brewers fielders caught seven foulouts.
Paul Goldschmidt homered and extended his hitting streak to 17 games for the Cardinals.
Hader, activated from the family medical emergency list earlier in the day, earned his 16th save in 16 tries this season. He gave up a leadoff single to Tommy Edman in the ninth and a one-out walk to Nolan Arenado before retiring Albert Pujols on a foul popup and Juan Yepez on a popout.
It marked Hader’s 30th consecutive save conversion. He hasn’t allowed a run since last July.
Eric Lauer (5-1) gave up two runs on four hits in the first two innings. His only blemish in his final three frames was a walk. He struck out one and walked four, throwing 96 pitches over five innings.
Urías hit his fourth homer of the season, connecting with one out in the first off Adam Wainwright (5-4).
One out later, Andrew McCutchen hit the first of three consecutive singles by the Brewers and scored on Taylor’s hit.
Christian Yelich drove in a run in the second and McCutchen had an RBI hit in the fourth.
Wainwright gave up 10 hits and four runs in five innings. He dropped a decision for the first time in four games.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff (5-2, 4.76) goes for his third consecutive win and his second against the Cardinals this year. He gave up three hits over five innings to get the win in a 5-1 win April 14 in Milwaukee.
Cardinals: RHP Dakota Hudson (3-2, 3.60) seeks his second win in his fifth start of May, during which he’s only made it out of the fifth inning once. He took the loss at Milwaukee on April 17, giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits in just three innings as the Brewers won 6-5.
Game time is 7:15 at Busch Stadium.