ST. LOUIS — In a span of seven weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals have steadily climbed from 10 1/2 games out of the wild-card spot to one win away from the World Series.
In Friday night’s 7-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of the NLCS, they used their proven formula again: Tony La Russa’s quick hook, a trusted bullpen and timely hitting.
But the biggest help was four errors by the Brewers, who handed them three unearned runs and a 3-2 series edge heading into Sunday’s Game 6 at Miller Park.
Key moment
Dotel slider dials up Braun
After the Brewers scored on Corey Hart’s two-out, RBI single to pull within 4-1 in the fifth, Jerry Hairston Jr. followed with another single to bring up Ryan Braun as the potential tying run. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa visited the mound to replace Jaime Garcia with Octavio Dotel, who threw five straight fastballs, as the count moved to 2-2, then went to the slider, which Braun missed for strike three.
Star of the game
Jaime Garcia
Although the starter didn’t get the victory, the left-hander allowed only one run and struck out five through 4 2/3 innings. In addition to keeping the Brewers at bay, Garcia helped score two runs in the second inning — albeit on an error by Brewers third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. — and added an official RBI with a run-scoring grounder in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 4-0.
When Jerry Hairston Jr. let a routine groundball hit by pitcher Jaime Garcia scoot through his legs for a two-run error in the second, the game got away from Milwaukee as well.
“You know what, when I look back on it, there’s nothing I could have done differently,” Hairston said. “He hit a rocket, and when it hit the lip (of the infield dirt), it just stayed down. I had a split-second to react and . . . five-hole.”
Yadier Molina had a run-scoring double, Albert Pujols added an RBI single and Garcia drove in another run with a groundout — all off Zack Greinke — before Matt Holliday’s two-run double blew it open in the eighth.
“I don’t want to go back to Milwaukee at all,” Holliday said. “But it was a very important game for us. A must-win.”
The Brewers scored their run on Corey Hart’s two-out single in the fifth as they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks were a combined 1-for-12 with four strikeouts.
La Russa, not a patient manager to begin with, has shown even less of that attribute during this NLCS. He was no different in Game 5, removing Garcia (68 pitches) with two on and two outs in the fifth.
La Russa got what he wanted when Octavio Dotel fanned Braun to end the threat, but history is not on the Cardinals’ side.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team has won a postseason series when a starter has failed to pitch more than five innings in each of the first five games, as St. Louis has done in this NLCS.
“I wasn’t really thinking that I was going to be in the game in that situation,” Dotel said, “because Jaime was throwing a really good game and he had like 60-something pitches.”
But the Brewers pulled to within 4-1 in the fifth on Hart’s two-out single and were aiming for more when Hairston followed with another hit.
With Braun next, La Russa dialed up Dotel, who has been like Kryptonite for the MVP candidate.
Braun had whiffed seven times in nine previous at-bats against Dotel, and La Russa, sensing the tipping point in the game, didn’t hesitate. In came Dotel and down went Braun, who struck out on six pitches.
“I’m just lucky against him — what can I say?” Dotel said. “I would love to be the same lucky when this series is over.”
