Despite the St Louis Cardinals winning the series with a 5-1 win Sunday, Sept. 21, the Milwaukee Brewers still left Busch Stadium on a celebratory note, as they secured their third straight National League Central title.
The Brewers allowed two runs to the Redbirds in each the third and fourth innings, as well as insurance in the eighth, but a sweep of the Chicago Cubs by the Cincinnati Reds resulted in Milwaukee locking up the division title. The Brewers made an effort to claim the title outright, loading the bases in the third, only for Matthew Liberatore to strike out Andrew Vaughn and get Rhys Hoskins to ground out to end the inning. The Cardinals took advantage, as Iván Herrera followed the leadoff walk to Victor Scott II with a two-run home run to left-center field.
Former Cardinals Erich Fedde took the mound for Milwaukee in the fourth, and promptly resumed his previous form at Busch Stadium, issuing walks to Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman, both of whom came home on José Fermín’s double. The Brewers pulled a run back when Joey Ortiz got on base with a triple, coming home on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Chourio. A bases-loaded walk to Fermín in the eighth capped the scoring for the Cardinals.
Despite getting just three hits, the Cardinals took advantage of seven walks from Milwaukee pitchers, including three from Fedde. Starter Robert Gasser lasted three innings for Milwaukee in the loss, allowing two walks and a home run to account for his two earned runs, while striking out two. Liberatore went the minimum five in the win, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out six.
While Milwaukee celebrate a division title, the Cardinals improve to 76-80 and remain four games behind Cincinnati and the Mets for the third wild card spot. The Cardinals conclude their slate of home games for the season with a record at Busch Stadium of 44-37. The Cardinals are on their way to San Francisco for the start of Monday evening’s three-game series against the Giants. Michael McGreevy gets the start for St Louis versus Justin Verlander. First pitch is at 8:45 p.m.