MILWAUKEE — — Luken Baker singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals won two of three from the NL Central-leading Brewers, with extra-inning victories each of the last two nights. St. Louis won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.
“That was a fun game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There was a lot of moving parts to that one. Both teams played well.”
Milwaukee went 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.
“I guess this is a phase we’re going through,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “A lot of it’s youth. There’s a lot of bright spots at the same time. Just very, very frustrating.”
St. Louis had a runner at third with two outs in the 10th when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was promoted from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, came out of the bullpen to make his first major league appearance since Aug. 8.
Baker came in as a pinch-hitter, got ahead 3-1 in the count and sent a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn. Baker, who has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, has an RBI in each of his last six games.
“As far as the RBI go, that’s my job, and that’s the ultimate goal, right?” Baker said. “You have to score runs to win games. … The job is to score more than the other team, so the more I can drive runs in, the better.”
With usual closer Ryan Helsley unavailable one night after pitching two innings, Ryan Fernandez worked the 10th to earn his second save in four opportunities. Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to earn his second save in four opportunities.