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Cards edge Brewers as Masterson wins debut

Aug 3, 2014 - 5:23 AM St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Kolten Wong highlighted an offensive attack that provided Justin Masterson plenty of support in his St. Louis debut and powered the Cardinals to a 9-7 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium.

Wong homered among his three hits and had three RBI for the Cardinals, who are two games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers.

Masterson (1-0), acquired from Cleveland on Wednesday, gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings. It was his first action since a DL stint for right knee inflammation.

"It's awesome. That's what you play the game for," Masterson said when asked about playing for his new team. "That's what makes it fun, when you're going out there. It just brings a team together."

Ryan Braun and Scooter Gennett both had two RBI for Milwaukee, which saw starter Kyle Lohse (11-6) get tagged for nine runs -- seven earned -- on nine hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

"That's one of the things I pride myself on, is even when things go a little haywire early, just being able to battle and keep your team in it," said Lohse.

The Brewers threatened in the ninth against St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal.

After Jean Segura led off with a first-pitch double to right field, Elian Herrera appeared to have been hit by a pitch. The Cardinals, however, challenged the play and it was overturned.

Segura advanced on a Herrera groundout to second, but Rosenthal struck out Carlos Gomez and trade-deadline addition Gerardo Parra swinging to end the game and earn his 33rd save of the season.

The Brewers got a run in the first inning when Parra scored on a two-out single by Aramis Ramirez. Parra had walked and stole second before Ramirez ripped a Masterson pitch down the third-base line.

St. Louis quickly tied the game in the bottom of the first with a homer to center field from Wong, then sent nine men to the plate while scoring five second-inning runs -- four with two outs.

The Cardinals grabbed the lead on Jhonny Peralta's leadoff blast to left- center field. Lohse retired the next two batters, but loaded the bases on two walks sandwiched around a Masterson single. Wong hit a two-run single to right and came around on an error after his baserunning drew a throw to third on Matt Holliday's RBI single.

Milwaukee trimmed its deficit to 6-4 in the fourth. Braun and Ramirez opened the inning with consecutive singles and a bobble on a comebacker to the mound cost Masterson a double play.

After Lyle Overbay walked to load the bases with one out, Gennett ripped a two-run double to the gap in left-center field and Segura hit an RBI groundout to third.

The Cardinals restored their three-run lead in the home fourth when Tony Cruz evaded catcher Jonathan Lucroy's tag and scored on Matt Carpenter's sacrifice fly to left.

Milwaukee closed to within two again on a Braun RBI groundout in the fifth, but Oscar Taveras plated a pair with a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the frame to make it 9-5.

Kevin Siegrist relieved Masterson to begin the seventh and gave up an RBI double to Gomez, who swiped third and scored on Braun's grounder to short.

Game Notes

Masterson was 4-6 with a 5.51 ERA in 19 starts for the Indians this year ... Ramirez had three hits ... The Cardinals were 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while Milwaukee finished 2-for-12 in such situations.