Cardinals come up short as Brewers series slips from grasp

Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras drops the ball on a play during the seventh inning of a game against the Brewers on Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. Contreras was not charged with an error.

Aaron Gash, Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — In the span of 15 pitches — a dozen of which Nolan Arenado weathered before lasering a leadoff single in the ninth inning — the Cardinals clawed back into a game that teased them with similar moments all afternoon.

It took 14 pitches for them to come up empty.

With the potential tying run in scoring position, flame-throwing Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Megill struck out the final three batters he faced to secure a 3-2 victory Sunday at American Family Field. Arenado welcomed Megill into the one-run game with a prolonged at-bat that included fouling off five consecutive pitches, whether it was a 101.5 mph fastball or an 88.4 mph plunging curve. Nolan Gorman followed with an improvised bunt single that moved Arenado’s pinch runner to second base.

Three batters, 14 pitches, three strikeouts later, the Cardinals were 90 feet shy of a tie when Megill secured his 15th save and the series win for the Brewers.

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“Baseball is tough, and sometimes it comes down to a little luck,” starter Miles Mikolas said. “That being said, luck will favor the people who are prepared, and we’re prepared, so if we keep getting in these tight games some of those hits will start falling, some of those long at-bats — you see a real tough at-bat from Nado right there — that kind of gritty, never-give-up baseball that starts to wear on your opponents a lot. Exhausting games. And as we get more into the season, if we can keep that up, keep that pressure on teams, some of those teams will start to crack.”

That could also serve as a synopsis of the Cardinals’ opening weeks of June. The schedule has applied pressure. A chilled offense hasn’t alleviated it. Cracks are showing.

Heading into Monday’s off-day in Chicago, the Cardinals played 13 games in 13 days — a stretch they braced for with pitching moves and decisions in the week leading into the grind. They finished that stretch 4-9. A win Saturday ended a six-game losing streak, but an inability to capitalize on opportunities throughout Sunday’s game cost them the four-game series in Milwaukee. Both teams got solo homers, a game-tying one in the fourth by Christian Yelich and a game-tightening one in the eighth by Ivan Herrera, and the game was decided by two Brewers runs that scored on outs.

The Cardinals spent the day searching for the breakthrough hit, and they played the entirety of the series without their complete lineup.

Jordan Walker missed two of the four games with injury. Brendan Donovan returned to lead off Sunday and had two singles, but he missed three of the four games with a toe injury. Manager Oliver Marmol wanted to avoid starting Lars Nootbaar over the weekend so the outfielder could get a break and emerge from a profound funk. He’d like to buy Victor Scott II a similar break from his struggles, but the club needs the speedster in center.

A goal Sunday was to get Masyn Winn a break and back-to-back days off with nothing scheduled Monday. Throw all of that on top of a roster thinned by choices such as carrying three catchers and no surefire right-handed-hitting outfielder to come off the bench, and limits reveal themselves.

“We’ve had to mix and match a little more and give guys opportunity and see what they can do with it,” Marmol said. “We knew it would be a tough stretch. We’ll get back at it.”

The ninth inning offered a distilled version of this June swoon.

Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the eighth inning of a game against the Brewers on Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Milwaukee.

Aaron Gash, Associated Press

The Cardinals have been consistently resilient and pesky this season, and both adjectives applied to Arenado’s at-bat to lead off the ninth. He missed a first-pitch curveball from Megill that veered out of the zone and decided then to shorten his swing and try to survive. Arenado fouled off eight pitches total in the at-bat. He chipped his bat at one point and, after the 11th pitch, had to swap it for a new one.

His first swing with it produced a line-drive single to center on a 100.4 mph fastball.

“I would definitely not sit here and say I like that and it’s a comfortable at-bat,” Arenado said. “I tried to shorten up and stay back. I was literally trying to battle. I was trying to stay in the at-bat and not lose it.”

A revealing choice by the dugout followed.

Nootbaar entered to pinch-run for Arenado, just as he entered defensively Saturday to close out that game. Marmol opted not to hold Nootbaar back as a pinch-hit option to replace right-handed Walker with Nootbaar’s left-handed swing.

An inning earlier, Marmol used Winn as a pinch hitter despite wanting to get him the day off. Winn approached Marmol and wanted to contribute if there was a spot, and there was to lead off the eighth, down 3-1. Marmol saw putting Nootbaar up against Megill as a different ask given the outfielder’s struggles.

“He’s not in a spot where that would make sense,” Marmol said.

As Arenado’s pinch runner, Nootbaar reached third. Gorman’s bunt got him to second, and a wild pitch pushed him 90 feet closer to tying the game.

Then the strikeouts happened.

Walker, just back from the injured list, took a called strike.

Scott, in a skid, struck out on a 101 mph fastball.

Winn, who was supposed to get a day off, fished for a curve to end the game.

The Cardinals went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Three of those came in the ninth.

“I think we left some guys out there,” said Donovan, who was on deck when the game ended. “Their guys just made pitches. I think that’s what it came down to. We had a chance in the end, and their guy made pitches. Sucks losing a series here. We’ll regroup.”

A day after he thrust himself into the middle of the game and both inspired his teammates and irritated the Brewers, Willson Contreras kept being pulled into the middle of Sunday’s game. Three times, he had an at-bat with a teammate on base — twice with a teammate in scoring position — and he did not get the ball out of the infield. In the eighth, after Herrera’s homer and Alec Burleson’s double, Contreras struck out to end the potential game-tying rally. The Brewers scored their third and decisive run in the seventh on a series of hits that included a grounder bobbled by Contreras. Ruled a hit and not an error, it still could have been an out.

Mikolas (4-4) struck out a season-high seven, including three in the first inning. He authored his fourth quality start in his past six games and held the Brewers to two runs in his six innings. One scored on Yelich’s homer to open the fourth and the other on a sacrifice fly.

What shaped the game and the series was a lot like what happened in the ninth inning. The Brewers spent the weekend showcasing their high-powered pitching. The Cardinals spent it shorthanded.

“Last month was a great month, and this month is a tough month, so far,” Arenado said. “The attitude is the same as when we were playing well. I think that’s a great thing. We’re in it. We’re just not getting over the hump.”

Photos: Cardinals make noise late, but Brewers silence bats to take series finale