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Suppan, Brewers blank Cardinals
Righty tosses seven shutout innings; Hart hits fourth homer
By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
05/16/09 5:50 PM ET
ST. LOUIS -- Brewers manager Ken Macha called the shot. He was talking Saturday morning about right fielder Corey Hart, who had gone 27 games and 106 at-bats without hitting a home run. Hart was working with hitting coach Dale Sveum, according to Macha, on ways to more consistently drive the baseball. "I look for Corey to get back to hitting some homers," Macha said. Boom. Hart hit a solo shot with two outs in the second inning, and that's all the Brewers needed for a 1-0 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium and sole possession of first place in the National League Central. Milwaukee won its second 1-0 game this season thanks mostly to winning pitcher Jeff Suppan (3-3), who pitched seven scoreless innings in his best start of the year. Suppan improved to 5-0 against the Cardinals (21-15) since his three-year stint in St. Louis, Mark DiFelice and Mitch Stetter combined for a perfect eighth inning and Trevor Hoffman worked his fifth consecutive three-up, three-down save in the ninth. For the sixth time in club history, the Brewers won a game with two or fewer hits. "You don't really think about that one run being the one that's going to count," Hart said. "Obviously, it's great to get it." Hart's first homer since April 13 and Suppan's mound work boosted the Brewers' record to 22-14, tops in the division, and 18-5 since April 21, best in baseball. "Today, [Suppan] had to give up nothing for us to win, and that's what he did," Macha said. Suppan has been pitching well for some time. Since going 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA in his first two starts, he's 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA in his past six games, and the Brewers have won all but one of those outings. He scattered six hits and two walks Saturday and got a highlight-reel assist from shortstop J.J. Hardy to douse the Cardinals' only rally. That was in the bottom of the seventh, when St. Louis starter and tough-luck loser Adam Wainwright (3-2) batted for himself with two outs and blooped a broken-bat single to right field that left runners at first and third. Skip Schumaker smacked a sharp grounder toward the hole, where Hardy made a diving stop and fired to second base for the inning-ending out. "The game was on the line, so I have to go for it," Hardy said. "I don't think I could throw Schumaker out at first base. It's good we can win a game like that, with two hits." Suppan made it possible. He pitched for the Cardinals from 2004-06, and in six starts against them since he signed a four-year, $42 million deal with the Brewers, he's 5-0 with a 1.66 ERA. Compare that to 20-25 with a 5.21 ERA against everybody else. "I don't feel any different," Suppan said. "I prepare the same either way, and then it's a matter of going out and making pitches." But it must be different to face a team that let you get away. The Cardinals didn't come close to matching the offers Suppan was getting from teams like the Brewers and Mets after the 2006 season. "Whatever 'juice' you have going against a team, you use it to your advantage," Suppan said. "Sometimes, that can take away from your performance. That can get out of sorts, and it can take you out of your game plan. Whatever emotion you have going against a certain team, I try to use it to help me. We're human beings, so of course we have emotions." What did Cardinals manager Tony La Russa make of Suppan's success against his former team? "It means he paid more attention to our hitters than our hitters paid to him when he pitched here," La Russa said. "He learned more about us than we learned about him. If a pitcher pitches good, he's going to get hitters out. But he has, he's pitched us very well for three years." A trio of relievers took it the rest of the way. Brewers hitters stranded a pair of runners on base in each of the last two innings, including a missed opportunity in the eighth, when they had two runners on base with nobody out. But DiFelice retired two men in his 15th scoreless appearance this season (17 games), and Stetter retired pinch-hitter Brian Barden to end the eighth before "Trevor Time" in the ninth. Hoffman pitched his 10th scoreless appearance, improved to 9-for-9 in save chances and now has retired 16 consecutive hitters and 23 of his past 24. The only hit during that span was an infield single. There were some tense moments in the ninth. Yadier Molina led off with a drive that was carried by the wind over Hart's head, but he made the running catch. Colby Rasmus followed with a line drive that knuckled in the wind before center fielder Mike Cameron caught it two feet off the ground. Hoffman retired Khalil Greene on a game-ending groundout and was out of the inning on eight pitches. "We had two hits and you win a game," Macha said. "That's pretty good." The hits were Hart's homer in the second inning and Ryan Braun's single in the seventh. Hart, whose average had fallen 44 points during his homer drought, worked the past three days with Sveum to improve his balance and leverage. He was 3-for-18 against Wainwright entering the game. "Everything is going to look good in batting practice or the cage, but when you have guys making pitches and mixing up speeds, it takes a little more time," Hart said. "Usually it takes a little while, but this time it took three days." Hardy surmised that Hart's hit "took a lot of weight off his shoulders. He's been thinking about it a little bit."
Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
