Milwaukee Brewers: 250 Words or Less: 8/2/11

250 words will hardly do this justice.

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 in11 innings on a hot and wild night in Milwaukee.

Both teams lit up each others’ starter. Defense was the theme, or lack thereof. Brewers’ starter Shaun Marcum dug and clawed through 6 innings, getting victimized periodically by the defenders around him. He was officially tagged for 6 earned runs, though hardly to blame for all of it.

The Brewers struck in the first, with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder each driving in a run. Jerry Hairston Jr., making his first start since arriving in a weekend trade, scored on Fielder’s hit, and filled in defensively at both center fielder and 2nd base during the game. A big 5-run inning put the Cardinals ahead, but a 3-run home run by Yuniesky Betancourt helped Milwaukee take it back.

As tense as the game was throughout, things got downright nasty in the 7th. Takashi Saito hit Albert Pujols near his hand in their half of the inning. St. Louis, big believers in the concept of “self-enforced justice” in baseball, threw two pitches at the first Brewers’ batter they saw, Ryan Braun. He hopped out of the way of the first pitch but the very next throw went to the same spot, and Braun took it in the middle of his back. No ejections were made, but MLB has a precedent for punishing malicious intent.

The usual battery came through for the 7th, 8th and 9th, but too many guys were left stranded on the bases. Marco Estrada took the loss. Tomorrow afternoon, Randy Wolf will try to help the Crew finish out the series and stay ahead in the division.

Follow me on Twitter (@MilwaukeeBrian) and don’t miss the Brewers’ “A Simple Kind of Fan” each Tuesday from Pocket Doppler’s Brew Town Boozer.

Tags: 250 Words, Albert Pujols, Milwaukee Brewers, Randy Wolf, Ryan Braun, Shaun Marcum, St. Louis Cardinals, Takashi Saito, Yuniesky Betancourt