Milwaukee rallies to take Game One of the NLCS

The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 9-6 in Game One of the National League Championship Series. Zach Greinke and Jaime Garcia did not have their best stuff. The offenses both played well and the Brewers won with one big inning. The Brewers scored six runs in the fifth inning.
Greinke pitched six innings for the Brewers giving up eight hits and six runs. He walked two and struck out six. Garcia pitched four innings for the Cardinals giving up six hits and six runs with three walks and three strikeouts. Octavio Dotel for the Cardinals didn’t fare so well in relief of Garcia. Dotel gave up two hits and two runs with one of them being earned in one inning. The Brewers pen only gave up one hit and one walk in three innings of relief. Takashi Saito, Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford were the relievers for the Brewers and they put the Cardinals away without much of a fight. They struck out four batters. The bullpens were the difference in the game. The Cardinals pen gave up three runs and two earned in four innings. They walked two and struck out one.

Rafael Furcal had two hits for the Cardinals, John Jay had a hit and a walk and Albert Pujols had a hit. Lance Berkman had two hits and an RBI, Matt Holliday had two hits and an RBI and Yadier Molina had a walk. David Freese had a hit, walk and three RBI, Furcal had a double and Freese had a homerun. The Cardinals were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Dotel made a throwing error.

Cory Hart had a hit and a walk for the Brewers. Jerry Hairston had two hits and a walk, Ryan Braun had two hits and four RBI and Prince Fielder had a hit, walk and two RBI. Rickie Weeks had a hit and a walk, Yuniesky Betancourt had two hits and two RBI and Jonathan Lucroy had two hits and an RBI. Weeks, Hairston, Braun, Lucroy and Betancourt each had a double. Braun, Fielder and Betancourt all had a homerun. The Brewers were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base.

The Cardinals took the lead in the first inning on a Holliday RBI single. In the bottom of the first Braun hit a two run homerun to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. In the fourth Freese hit a three run homerun to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead. Berkman hit an RBI single in the fifth to extend the Cardinals lead to 5-2. In the bottom of the fifth the Brewers had a big inning where they would take the lead and not relinquish it. Braun hit a two run double, Fielder hit a two run homerun and Betancourt hit a two run homerun to give the Brewers a 8-5 lead. In the seventh Pujols grounded into a double play but a run scored making it 8-6. Lucroy hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-6 and that would conclude the scoring in the game.

The Brewers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best of seven National League Championship Series. Game Two will take place on Monday night in Milwaukee. This NLCS was the first time since 1982 the Brewers are in a LCS. They of course back then were in the American League. The Brewers had the leagues best home record and they look to go up 2-0 before heading to St. Louis for the middle three games of the series.