After falling behind on early homer, Cardinals bats go quiet in loss to Brewers

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 6, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis Cardinals offense that has found ways to grind out at-bats and keep its lineup moving to produce runs in timely moments could not find traction Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers, even after it looked like it might get rolling early to chip away at a four-run deficit.

Down 4-0 in the bottom of the first inning after Andre Pallante gave up a three-run homer to the sixth batter he faced to begin his outing, Ivan Herrera reached second base with one out in the frame, and Jordan Walker drew a two-out walk to give the Cardinals a chance to put two runners on. But that scoring chance was quieted on a swinging strikeout by Nolan Gorman.

The quiet end to their first chance to score followed the Cardinals for much of the remainder of Wednesday's 6-2 loss to Milwaukee at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals (21-15) were held scoreless by starter Brandon Sproat (four innings), DL Hall and Aaron Ashby through seven innings. After Herrera's double, the Cardinals did not reach base with a hit until Victor Scott II lined a single in the eighth inning off Trevor Megill. He crossed home two batters later on a single by Alec Burleson.

A last-ditch effort was made in the ninth after Gorman led off the inning with a double and scored two batters later. The effort to stage a comeback was silenced on a game-ending double play.

The late runs kept the Cardinals from being shut out for just the second time this season. The only time they have failed to score a run in a game came in a 4-0 loss to the Tigers on April 3 in Detroit.

The quiet offense could not make up for the loud contact Pallante surrendered to begin his outing.

Coming off his first quality start of the season and with five runs allowed in his previous 16 1/3 innings since his April 18 start in Houston, Pallante allowed four runs in the first inning and another in the fifth before he completed his start with a scoreless sixth inning.

Three of the four runs Pallante allowed came on a homer from Andrew Vaughn. Pallante followed the blast with three scoreless innings where he faced nine batters before traffic filled the bases in the fifth.

Seeing the top of the Brewers order for a third time, Pallante allowed back-to-back infield singles and was one out away from escaping the inning unscathed. But a wild pitch bounced in the dirt and then off catcher Pedro Pages’ mask, kicking out far enough for Joey Ortiz to score after he got the inning rolling with a broken bat single that did not leave the infield grass.

With the Cardinals offense quiet and Pallante providing six innings, left-hander Jared Shuster provided two scoreless innings of relief, and Matt Svanson allowed one run during his inning of work in the ninth.

Rough first frame

An inning that began with back-to-back groundouts on six pitches to retire Sal Frelick and Jackson Chourio tumbled into a four-run frame that took Pallante 30 pitches to escape.

The two breezy at-bats Pallante began his day with were followed by a single from Brice Turang, a sinker that slipped away and hit William Contreras on the left hand, and a single from Jake Bauers. Bauers’ single scored Turang ahead of Nathan Church’s throw from left field for the game’s first run.

A pair of sinkers that slipped away from Pallante put him behind 2-0 to Vaughn. Pallant worked his way back into the count by landing a 3-1 slider for a called strike and then went back to the slider, his most effective swing-and-miss pitch, for the sixth pitch. Vaughn fouled the slider off to earn a seventh pitch, which he lifted 403 feet to left field.

Silenced by Sproat

Through the first four innings against the hard-throwing right-hander Sproat, Cardinals hitters worked Sproat's pitch count to 73 and had a runner reach base in all but one inning. All they had to show for their work was one hit and no runs.

The lone hit the Cardinals got off Sproat in the first four innings was the double Herrera was credited with in the first inning. Herrera’s bouncing ground ball that allowed him to reach second base skipped by the glove of third baseman David Hamilton, who attempted to field the ball with his back hand.

In the fourth inning, Walker and Gorman drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and ended the inning where they started it.

A line drive from Masyn Winn with a 100.3 mph exit velocity was hit right at Hamilton for the inning’s first out. And in the next at-bat, Jose Fermin hammered a 96.5 mph sinker to the shortstop Ortiz to begin an inning-ending double play.

Church leaves after HBP

The Cardinals removed Church at the start of the fourth inning because of a left leg contusion.

Church was hit on the leg by a 97.5 mph fastball from Sproat during his at-bat in the second inning and was visited by Marmol and a team trainer as he walked up the line and reached first base. Church tested out his leg by jogging up and down the foul line before remaining in the game. Fermin replaced Church in left field upon the latter's exit.

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