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Brewers try to gain even more ground on Cardinals

Sep 17, 2014 - 3:08 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Don't count the Milwaukee Brewers out just yet.

The Brewers aim to make up more ground in the race for a playoff spot on Wednesday evening in the middle contest of a three-game set with the National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee rallied for a 3-2 win over St. Louis last night in 12 innings, winning for the fifth time in six games. That kept the Brewers 1 1/2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates for the NL's second wild card spot and pulled them within four games of the first-place Cardinals.

St. Louis, meanwhile, had three-game win streak stopped and saw its lead over second-place Pittsburgh in the standings reduced to 2 1/2 games.

Milwaukee plated a run in the ninth off St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal, with Matt Clark's sacrifice fly to left field going deep enough for Hector Gomez to beat the throw home and force extras.

Gomez then knocked in the winning run in the 12th inning, blooping a single to shallow right that plated Carlos Gomez, who walked and stole two bases in the inning.

"We deserved a bloop," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "I'll take it."

Wily Peralta got the start and gave up two runs on five hits over seven innings for the Brewers.

St. Louis starter Lance Lynn allowed one run on five hits over seven innings.

"I didn't have the best command, but I had enough to get through seven," Lynn said.

Adam Wainwright has shown some good command over a three-start winning streak and looks to join Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Clayton Kershaw as the lone 19- game winners this season.

Wainwright has given up five runs over 23 innings during his winning streak, picking up a victory in Milwaukee on Sept. 7. He allowed one run in a complete-game effort, then held Colorado to a single run over eight innings on Friday to win a 5-1 decision. The righty struck out eight, moving to 18-9 with a 2.56 earned run average on the year.

Wainwright is 11-7 in his career versus Milwaukee, posting a 2.43 ERA in 29 games (22 starts).

The Brewers counter with Mike Fiers, who takes the mound for the first time since rough outing against Miami on Thursday.

It wasn't bad in the result as Fiers scattered three hits and three walks over five scoreless innings, striking out eight to get credited with the win. However, the righty battled some control issues that saw him strike Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a fastball, causing facial fractures and lacerations.

Fiers then hit Reed Johnson, who came on to pinch-hit for Stanton, on the wrist, though like Stanton, Johnson was ruled to have swung at the pitch.

"Fiers is pretty upset," said Roenicke. "He knows he didn't do it on purpose. Everybody knows that and he wants to make sure that they know that and I think that's case."

Fiers is 6-2 with a 1.84 ERA in 11 games (7 starts) on the year and the righty is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA in five career meetings with St. Louis, including three starts. He just beat the Cardinals on Sept. 5, giving up two runs over 6 2/3 innings.

The Cardinals are 10-7 versus the Brewers this year, losing four of the seven games played in St. Louis.