Brandon Woodruff allowed two hits in eight innings and the Milwaukee Brewers kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Saturday night.
Ryan Braun and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth, the third time the Brewers have hit consecutive homers this season. St. Louis would have clinched a playoff spot with a win.
Woodruff (3-5) retired 19 straight after pitching around leadoff hits in the first and second innings as Milwaukee (29-30) moved within a game of St. Louis (29-28). Both teams are among four NL clubs vying for two open postseason spots. NL Central rival Cincinnati (30-28 entering Saturday) clinched a playoff berth on Friday. The Cardinals as of yet have not clinched a postseason spot. Both the Cardinals and Reds lost Saturday, giving the NL Central championship to the Chicago Cubs.
Woodruff struck out 10 and walked one as he beat the Cardinals for the second time this season. He threw a season-high 108 pitches, 73 for strikes.
Josh Hader pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 15 tries.
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (5-3) retired the first seven batters he faced before wriggling out of a two-on, one-out jam in the third.
Wainwright wasn’t so fortunate in the fourth as Braun drove his second pitch of the inning into the Cardinals’ bullpen. Three pitches later, Vogelbach smashed an 89 mph delivery 420 feet into the left-center bleachers to make it 2-0.
LHP Austin Gomber (1-1, 1.80 ERA) gets his second straight start Sunday after appearing in relief in his first 12 games this season. 1:20 with the pregame and the first pitch at 2:15 on KIRX.