Cardinal Way

When last the Cardinals visited the Land of Yelich, lo those many months ago, their stay was decided by who they could not find a way to stop.

They’ve returned to showcase how much they’ve got going.

What began by swamping Milwaukee with offense ended with the Cardinals’ bullpen wringing every out from its 5 1/3 scoreless innings on the way to a 12-2 victory Monday at Miller Park. The first-place Cardinals, having dispatched Pittsburgh from contention last month, shoved Milwaukee 5½ games back in the division race and won against the Brewers for the seventh time in their past eight games.

The Cardinals began the season dumbfounded by Christian Yelich and his 19 RBIs in the first seven games against, and yet showed Monday a new way to contain the reigning National League MVP: Stay too far ahead for him to catch up alone.

The Cardinals scored at least six runs for the fifth consecutive game and scored at least 11 in consecutive games for the first time since August 2017.

“Synched,” shortstop Paul DeJong said. “We’re all on the same page. We’re resonating well with each other, playing well with each other. There is a different hero every night it seems. And there’s multiple heroes every night. That’s a good sign for a group to be able to win a division and make some noise in the postseason.”

Even with the lopsided production at the plate, two of the more telling and more compelling moves came on the mound, including a quick and understandable move on starter Adam Wainwright that he said stung him to his “soul.” The veteran righthander said for 10 or 12 days he has been “fighting himself,” and early in the start Monday he was breaking off from his mechanics, causing his pitches to cast or miss. He held the Brewers to two runs but had to tiptoe around nine baserunners, including six hits, and by the time the he got late into the fourth inning he’d already thrown 90 pitches. The 90th issued a walk to Yasmani Grandal to put two runners on base and bring Yelich to the plate.

The Cardinals had a sub-lease on Miller Park in April, having visited the ballpark twice in the season’s opening weeks. Each time Yelich thundered. He had eight home runs in those seven games at Miller, including a three-homer game.

“Yelich — one swing of the bat could change the complexion of that game,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Felt like (Wainwright) was working a little harder than usual from the beginning. Made some sense to feel like we didn’t have to ride him.”

With the Cardinals leading by seven, the tying run wasn’t even headed to the bat rack for his gloves when Shildt lifted Wainwright after 3 2/3 innings for reliever John Gant. At times in the past, the starter would have had a deed on trying to get through that inning and past the fifth to qualify for the win. Wainwright explained how he had no issue not getting that shot.

“I didn’t earn that,” he said. “As a competitor, of course, I want a chance to go out there and get the job done, get a win for this team, carry them deeper into this game. It’s tough. The toughest part of today is at that point I had a seven-run lead and my manager looked out there and saw, ‘You know what, we better make a change.’ That’s on me. All I can do is keep competing. That hurts. Hurts my soul. It really does. But it’s going to make me compete harder.”

Gant (9-0) walked Yelich to load the bases and then breezed through the next few innings to throw 2 ⅓ scoreless innings and snag the win. The lead mushroomed late, but Shildt stuck to the plan to get lefty Andrew Miller and Carlos Martinez late-game work, as each requested. That drew boos from the Miller Park crowd as Shildt made the move to Martinez, his closer, for the final out of a 10-run game.

Given the Cardinals’ issues with the Brewers’ use of the opener last season for one batter and one batter only, the use of the closer could be read as the Cardinals making a point.

“There was no message,” Shildt insisted. “I wasn’t even thinking that.”

Twice in the first two innings, Brewers starter Gio Gonzalez nibbled around Paul Goldschmidt and gave him first base with a walk, preferring to surrender 90 feet to Goldschmidt and gain an edge at the plate. It didn’t work either time.

In the first inning, Goldschmidt scored on Yadier Molina’s two-run, two-out single to stake Wainwright to an early lead. The RBIs were Molina’s 900th and 901st of his career. In the second, Gonzalez walked Goldschmidt to load the bases, and Marcell Ozuna followed by clearing them with a double into the right-field corner. The swing gave Ozuna 10 RBIs in his past five games. Even after Goldschmidt stopped walking, the Cardinals kept scoring. Ozuna added a single and a run scored in the sixth inning. Molina hit his fifth home run of the season in the fourth, off Gonzalez. In his second at-bat of the second inning, Harrison Bader had a two-run double to punctuate the six-run inning.

And, in the sixth, DeJong turned his attention from shattering ballpark advertisements for food and landed a bruise on a sign for a beverage. His two-run homer to dead center clanged off the scoreboard, near a Miller Lite.

DeJong came inches shy of a second homer to center.

When it was caught near the top of the wall, he settled for a sacrifice fly and his third RBI of the game, all of which came as the Cardinals extended their lead in the late innings. By the end of the second inning, the Cardinals had four at-bats with the bases loaded.

By the end of the game, seven different spots in the order had scored at least a run.

“Good at-bats travel,” Shildt said. “This group is in a good place.”

And it goes where they do.