Brewers at Cardinals
Behind a dominant pitching performance, the St. Louis Cardinals struck first in a significant series in the National League Central. They'll look to expand their lead in the tightly-packed division when they play the second of a three-game set with the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Dakota Hudson tossed 6 2/3 hitless innings and two relievers completed a one-hitter in St. Louis' 3-0 win Monday night. Paul DeJong slugged a solo homer to pace the first-place Cardinals, who have won eight of their last 10 to open a half-game lead over the idle Chicago Cubs and a three-game edge on the Brewers in the division race. Yasmani Grandal doubled in the eighth to provide the only hit for a Milwaukee team that has dropped five in a row to St. Louis while scoring a total of 13 runs. The Brewers have found little success over the years against Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha, who toes the rubber for the hosts Tuesday against veteran southpaw Gio Gonzalez.
TV: 7:45 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers LH Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 3.81 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (6-6, 5.44)
Gonzalez gave up a season-high five runs in a season-low 3 2/3 innings against Minnesota on Wednesday. The 33-year-old served up three home runs in that outing for the first time since May 8, 2017. Gonzalez has a solid 3.21 ERA in 10 career starts against the Cardinals but all of those outings were before Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Wieters - both of whom are 10-for-17 against the lefty - arrived in St. Louis.
Wacha had nine days between starts before allowing two runs over five innings at Cincinnati on Thursday. He has only five quality starts on the year but one of them came at Milwaukee in April. The one-time All-Star is 6-0 with a 3.84 ERA lifetime versus the Brewers.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Brewers optioned RHP Aaron Wilkerson to Triple-A San Antonio on Monday to make room for RHP Zach Davies, who started the series opener.
2. DeJong is batting .386 with four home runs in 11 games against Milwaukee this year.
3. The Brewers had 23 runs on 37 hits over their previous two games before Monday's shutout loss.