News
Bullpen preserves victory over Cards
Vargas, Hoffman deliver in clutch; McGehee drives in three
By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
09/03/09 7:21 PM ET
ST. LOUIS -- Baseball's most feared hitter had two chances to beat the Brewers on Thursday and finish a St. Louis sweep. Both times, Albert Pujols came up empty. Claudio Vargas induced a bases-loaded groundout from Pujols to end the seventh inning and Trevor Hoffman struck out the slugger on three pitches in the ninth, preserving a 4-3 Brewers win at Busch Stadium that had the feel of last season's pennant race. "That was an intense ballgame today," said Brewers manager Ken Macha, who engaged in some back-and-forth with his Cardinals counterpart Tony La Russa in a long seventh inning. Starter Manny Parra surrendered two runs before recording his second out of the game but then rebounded to hold the Cardinals to no more runs into the seventh. Shortstop Alcides Escobar highlighted Milwaukee's well-rounded defensive effort with a spectacular play that robbed Mark DeRosa of a hit in the sixth inning. Third baseman Casey McGehee provided most of the run support, hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run off St. Louis starter John Smoltz (1-1) in a three-run Brewers sixth inning. McGehee also hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and drove in nine of the Brewers' 13 runs in the series. "Both teams had chances, and there were times we had to come up with big pitches, big hits and big plays in the field," McGehee said. "That was just a really quality Major League baseball game." The bullpen closed it out. David Weathers relieved Parra with one on and one out in the seventh inning and loaded the bases with a double and a walk. When La Russa announced left-handed pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker in place of right-handed swinger Brendan Ryan -- a move La Russa later conceded was a mistake -- Macha countered with lefty reliever Mitch Stetter. La Russa, in turn, sent up slumping infielder Khalil Greene, who struck out against Stetter and would do so again in the ninth against Hoffman. Even with Greene out of the way, the Cardinals were in business. Up next was Pujols, who was 9-for-13 with the bases loaded this season and had tremendous numbers against nearly all of Macha's bullpen options. He chose Vargas, against whom Pujols was 6-for-15 with three home runs. Vargas engaged in a seven-pitch battle that went on much longer because of three timeouts -- one called by catcher Mike Rivera and the others by Pujols. "That guy is the best hitter in baseball for me, and with the bases loaded, you have to pitch to him," Vargas said. "The umpire squeezed me a little with the strike zone and I got in trouble. I got lucky that I got him out. I was trying to take a little bit longer because I know he gets mad. I thought maybe I could get him to swing at my pitches if he got mad." Pujols did swing at a fastball running in on his hands, and sent a groundout to McGehee at third base. "I think this is the most intense moment I've been in in the big leagues," Vargas said. Added Macha: "Getting Pujols out with the bases loaded, you ought to get a save for that, at least." The save was reserved for Hoffman, who was pitching with only a one-run lead after Matt Holliday touched Vargas for a home run in the eighth inning. Julio Lugo reached on a one-out infield hit to extend the inning for Pujols, who entered the day 0-for-5 against baseball's all-time saves leader. Once again, Hoffman won the clash. He struck out Pujols on three pitches -- fastball, change-up, fastball. "He got Pujols guessing," catcher Mike Rivera said. "That was amazing. There's not many guys that can do that." Hoffman preserved Parra's seventh win in nine decisions since he returned from Triple-A Nashville, a strange stat since he has a 5.40 ERA in that span. Here's another head-scratcher: Parra is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts against the Cardinals, who are running away with the National League Central and are stocked with right-handed hitters. "I have no idea why," Parra said. "I wish I could tell you. They've got a lot of good hitters." Parra surrendered a leadoff home run to Cardinals second baseman Lugo and an RBI single to Ryan Ludwick to fall into an early 2-0 hole. He recovered nicely, throwing a much higher percentage of change-ups to keep the Cards off-balance, and by the end of the day he had allowed only those two runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings. Parra walked three and struck out five. "I went 3-and-2 on the leadoff hitter and gave him a cookie," Parra said. "Whether it's the leadoff hitter or the three- or four-hitter, you can't lose focus like that. I tried to bunker down and remind myself that my problem is command. I tried to focus as much as I could on commanding the ball today." Parra praised Milwaukee's hitters for their rally against Smoltz, the resurgent right-hander who surrendered only one run in his first two starts for St. Louis. The Brewers' go-ahead rally in the sixth inning may have been sparked by a lucky break; with runners at the corners and one out, Prince Fielder hit what might have been a double-play grounder to Lugo at second base, but he bobbled it and had to go to first for the out. Fielder was credited with a tying RBI. "We kind of took advantage of their only mistake in the whole series," Macha said. Two pitches later, McGehee connected with a Smoltz slider for the go-ahead homer. "He's new to me and he's new to the league," Smoltz said. "He's swinging a hot bat in his area, so you have to keep it out of there." "It was impressive that we scored four [runs] off of Smoltz," Parra said. "My first at-bat, I just couldn't believe how good his stuff still is."Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
