Sabathia tries to pitch Milwaukee to seventh straight win in St. Louis
Posted: Wed Jul 23 11:09 AM
(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals are losing ground to the hard- charging Milwaukee Brewers in the playoff race. An encounter with CC Sabathia may not bode well for Tony La Russa's club's chances of reversing that trend.
Sabathia will try to pitch the red-hot Brewers to a seventh consecutive victory and a third straight win over the Cardinals when the National League Central members continue an important four-game series tonight at Busch Stadium.
The 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner has been everything the Brewers were hoping for when the organization acquired Sabathia in a trade with the Cleveland Indians earlier this month. The burly left-hander has won all three of his starts with Milwaukee, two of which came with complete-game performances, and has yielded just six runs (5 earned) over 24 innings with his new team.
Sabathia dominated the San Francisco Giants this past Friday, going the distance on a four-hitter in Milwaukee's 9-1 win. He did not walk a batter on the night and piled up 10 strikeouts to record his sixth straight winning decision.
Over the course of his unbeaten run, Sabathia has posted a 1.83 earned run average in eight starts and amassed double-digit strikeout totals in four of those outings.
The Brewers now own a one-game lead on St. Louis for the top spot in the NL Wild Card standings after winning the first two games of this set. Milwaukee has also closed within a single game of first-place Chicago, which has lost back-to-back tilts to Arizona, in the division.
Milwaukee recorded its latest victory in come-from-behind fashion, rallying for four runs over the final three innings to earn a 4-3 win over the Cards. Bill Hall put the Brewers ahead to stay when he belted a solo homer off Kyle McClellan with two out in the top of the ninth.
The Cardinals held a 3-1 lead behind Kyle Lohse after seven innings, but the St. Louis starter was touched for two runs on three hits in the top of the eighth. Rickie Weeks had a key RBI double for Milwaukee during the frame and scored the tying run on a J.J. Hardy single.
Hardy and Prince Fielder each ended 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Brewers, while starting pitcher Jeff Suppan allowed three runs over seven innings in his first appearance following a short stint on the disabled list.
Brian Shouse (4-1) picked up the victory after holding the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the eighth.
Lohse surrendered three runs on seven hits in eight innings of work. The right-hander added seven strikeouts while not walking a batter.
Braden Looper has the tough task of opposing Sabathia tonight. The converted reliever will likely need to improve off his last start, when Looper was tagged for six runs and eight hits in a three-inning no-decision against San Diego on Friday.
Looper is 9-7 on the season but hasn't won in four straight starts, having received two losses and a pair of no-decisions while pitching to a 6.52 ERA over that span.
The 33-year-old is 4-5 with a 4.76 ERA in 31 career games, five of which have been in a starting role, against Milwaukee. Looper is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in two starts versus the Brewers this season, with the win coming at Busch Stadium back in April.
Milwaukee holds a 7-4 advantage in the 2008 season series with St. Louis and has won in three of its five visits to Busch Stadium this year.
