MILWAUKEE (WSAU-TSN) Adam Lind’s two-run home run helped the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals and avoid a series sweep at the hands of their division rivals.
Lind’s third homer of the year followed an RBI triple from Gerardo Parra, who had two extra-base hits. Milwaukee starter Mike Fiers struggled, allowing two runs — one earned — on nine hits and two walks in four-plus innings.
After Fiers’ early exit, four Brewers relievers combined to only allow one Cardinals run over the final five innings. Michael Blazek (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings, and Francisco Rodriguez recorded his third save.
Lance Lynn (1-2) was rocked after only allowing one earned run in each of his first three starts. He yielded six runs on 10 hits and a walk and struck out six in five innings.
Mark Reynolds hit his first home run as a Cardinal, and Jon Jay had three hits after coming off the bench for Jason Heyward, who left the game early with a groin injury. Jhonny Peralta had two hits and walked twice.
The Cardinals could have put Milwaukee away in the early innings but failed to come through with runners in scoring position. In each of the first three innings, they put at least two runners on base against Fiers but did not score.
Milwaukee had early opportunities of its own and did take advantage of them in the third inning. After Parra tripled home Logan Schafer to open the scoring, Lind homered to right field to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
Fiers got into more trouble in the fourth, but this time he was unable to get out of his mess. Jay singled in his first at-bat of the game and moved to second on Lind’s error on a pickoff attempt. Peralta made the Brewers pay for that miscue and singled home Jay.
The Cardinals pulled within one an inning later when Reynolds, who hit 22 home runs for the Brewers in 2014, hit a towering drive to left and chased Fiers from the game. Blazek worked around a one-out walk to avoid further damage.
Lynn fell apart in the fifth inning as Milwaukee piled on two-out runs. Lynn allowed back-to-back doubles to Khris Davis and Elian Herrera that scored two runs, and Hector Gomez’s single extended the Brewers’ lead to 6-2.
“Any time you can add on, especially with two outs, it’s a lift to everybody on the team,” said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke.
In the eighth, St. Louis again coughed up a chance for a big inning. Pinch- hitter Cody Stanley singled off Jonathan Broxton in his first major league at- bat, and the bases were loaded when Matt Adams came up with one out. The Brewers conceded a run to record the second out, and Broxton got Reynolds to fly out to end the inning.
Rodriguez recorded a 1-2-3 ninth.
