With a 12-4 win against the Brewers on Tuesday night, the Cardinals moved within 4 1/2 games of division-leading Milwaukee. The last time they were that close to first place was the morning of April 30, at the start of a three-game series played in the immediate wake of the shocking death of teammate Josh Hancock.
That game in April started a spiral that saw the Redbirds drop 11 of their next 17, falling 10 games out of first. Tuesday’s win, meanwhile, continued a week-long trend of quality starting pitching and wins over contending teams. The Cardinals have regained all of the ground they lost in a seemingly disastrous trip to Pittsburgh and Washington, and they’re a more realistic contender now, in mid-August, than they’ve been in months.
While the Cards were beating the first-place Brewers, the second-place Cubs dropped a 6-5 decision at home against Cincinnati. As a result, St. Louis trails Chicago by three games. The Redbirds trail the Brewers by three games in the loss column and have two more losses than the Cubs. They’re four games under .500, one win away from equaling their post-April high-water mark.
As the defending World Series champions begin their biggest week of the season to date, they may be playing their best baseball of the season.
The Cardinals have taken four straight against Milwaukee, and in three of those games they’ve overcome a significant early deficit. St. Louis rallied from 6-0 and 5-0 holes against the Brewers at Busch Stadium on July 28 and 29, respectively.
This time it was a 3-0 gap, thanks to the first and second homers off of Wells since June 2. Prince Fielder and Geoff Jenkins both went deep against in the first inning as the homestanding Brew Crew surged ahead, but Wells breezed after the first.
He set down 12 straight batters from the second into the sixth inning and finished with his third win in four decisions. Wells has quality starts in five of his past six outings, lowering his ERA by more than a run from 6.25 to 5.24.
Offense came from all over the lineup, and the Cardinals were aided by some Milwaukee miscues as well. Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run double off Chris Capuano in the third to get the Cards on the board and start the comeback.
In the fifth, Capuano and the Brewers came unglued. St. Louis pushed across six runs in the frame, including two tallies courtesy of a Ryan Braun error, another on a bases-loaded walk and two on a single by Wells. Jim Edmonds posted his first four-hit game since Aug. 23, 2003, and Albert Pujols reached base five times on three singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.