ST. LOUIS — Hunter Renfroe tripled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals wasted a magnificent start by Adam Wainwright, falling 3-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.
Milwaukee moved within a half-game of NL Central-leading St. Louis, ending the Cardinals’ nine-game home winning streak.
Wainwright took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and ended up finishing nine, allowing one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in his 109-pitch outing.
“I had good stuff,” Wainwright said. “A good plan. I really wanted to throw a no-hitter tonight. I really did. I felt like I was going to, you know, from the first inning on. I thought tonight was going to be the night. That’s a tough team over there. A bunch of hitters from one through nine that can hit a homer and that’s what happened.”
The Cardinals handed their 40-year-old ace a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning on Nolan Gorman’s line-drive double to left-center against Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes. Paul Goldschmidt, who led off the inning with a single, scored from first as the ball eluded center fielder Tyrone Taylor.
But Wainwright allowed Luis Urías, one-out, first-pitch homer to center in the eighth, and Devin Williams (4-2) retired the side in order in the ninth.
“That was an enormous play (by Urías) to get us back to even,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It was just a tough night. Wainwright’s off-speed stuff was really on point. It felt tough to score. Just one swing of the bat tied it up and gave us fresh life.”
In the 10th, Renfroe led off with a triple to right against Giovanny Gallegos (2-5), scoring automatic runner Andrew McCutchen.
“My mindset was to see the ball up,” Renfroe said. “I was looking for something out over the plate. Got a fastball out over. It was a little high, honestly.”
Renfroe later scored on Kolten Wong’s sacrifice fly.
Matt Bush allowed Dylan Carlson’s sacrifice fly in the 10th but struck out the next two batters for his third save. It was his second save with the Brewers, who dealt closer Josh Hader to the Padres and acquired Bush from Texas at the trade deadline.
“It’s a position I’ve been put in and we’ve had close games,” Bush said. “The manager has confidence to put me in there. I haven’t been used to pitching in these tough, tight games. It’s huge for me to get my feet wet in a place like St. Louis. It’s a bit nerve-wracking.”
Burnes, last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed four hits with six strikeouts in seven innings. He worked seven scoreless innings in each of his previous starts against the Cardinals this season.
“As far as being efficient, it was pretty good,” Burnes said. “It just happens three of best games this year have been against these guys. It’s a good time to have good games against them.”
McCutchen broke up Wainwright’s no-hit bid with a two-out single in the seventh. He has 25 hits against Wainwright, the most of any current player.
The Brewers finished with four hits. Wainwright worked nine innings for the second time this season without winning either game. He went the distance in a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on July 8.
“That was a really nice job to go nine,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He got every leadoff man out every inning. That’s as efficient as you can be.”
Wainwright’s previous start was his worst of the season. He yielded six runs while throwing 111 pitches over four-plus innings against the New York Yankees last Sunday.