MILWAUKEE _ It didn't have be decided so early because there were opportunities out there for the Cardinals to inch, creep, or chip their way back into the game, but there it was.
Three runs in the first inning proved insurmountable.
A day after the July trade deadline left the Cardinals with the same roster they started the day with and pretty much the same roster they've had all season, the club failed again to reach .500. It's the brass ring they can't grasp, not because they don't have the reach, but because they fall off the carousel. Carlos Martinez's struggles in the first inning continued as the Brewers got all three of their runs in the first six batters of the game and held on for a 3-2 victory Tuesday at Miller Park.
Jimmy Nelson pitched six strong-enough innings and struck out seven before All-Star closer Corey Knebel completed the save. The win fortified the Brewers' hold on second place in the National League Central and knocked the Cardinals back to 52-54. They have not been .500 since early June, at 26-26.
They've spent half the season now trying to get back.
A dropped popup in the ninth inning put the potential tying run at first base, and that's as far as Stephen Piscotty got before Knebel ended the game. Randal Grichuk smoked a liner that was caught by third baseman Travis Shaw for the final out. It was second time in two innings that the Cardinals got the tying run at first and no further, and the third time in the final four innings that the tying run was on base. They've scored seven runs in the past five games.
Martinez (7-9) allowed three runs on four hits, but it was his five walks and first-inning wobble that left him with an abbreviated game. He pitched only five innings, and he needed 102 pitches to get those 15 outs. That contrasted with Nelson (9-5), who retired the first six batters he faced and got a first-pitch strike on all six.
The trouble began where it has ever since the All-Star break for Martinez _ from the start.
In all four of his appearances since the midsummer break and his two innings in the All-Star Game, Martinez has allowed at least a run. Twice he's allowed a home run that gave his opponents two runs, and in all four of the starts the runs have come quickly. It took three hitters to produce one run for Pittsburgh, four hitters to get two for the Cubs, and three to get two runs from Colorado. On Tuesday, the Brewers had a 3-0 lead by their sixth batter of the game.
Martinez, true to first-inning form, walked the first batter of the game, and then saw Eric Sogard wheel to third on Eric Thames' double. Sogard scored on a groundout, and Thames did on a two-out, RBI single up the middle.
Domingo Santana's RBI hopper ended the Brewers' spell of 33 consecutive at-bats with runners in scoring position without a hit.
They had gone a week without one.
They didn't have to wait a batter for the next one.
Manny Pina ripped a two-out double to the left-field gap to score Santana and put the Brewers ahead by three runs before Martinez could get three outs.
The Cardinals and Martinez have tried a variety of warmups for the right-hander to get his feel for the fastball and sinker from the start. He has scripted his warmups, pitch by pitch, and he has tried to create a game-like speed to them. Before Tuesday's first inning went sideways, Martinez had a 5.57 ERA in the inning this season, and an ERA 3.00 or less in the next four innings. Opponents have hit with a .882 OPS against Martinez in the first inning _ and that inched higher Tuesday _ and then not another inning comes close until the eighth, at .813. And if he's pitching into the eighth inning then the Cardinals can go quickly to a reliever when the OPS starts climbing.
After the first inning Tuesday, Martinez retired 10 of the next 12 batters he faced, and he erased one of the walks he allowed with a double play. The Brewers did not threaten again until the fifth inning when Martinez's two walks offered grease to a rally.
And then the umpire did.
With the bases loaded, Martinez fired a 100-mph fastball that darted into the strike zone and was taken for an apparent third strike. Molina started walking away coolly, as did Martinez from the mound. Home-plate umpire Chad Whitson had nowhere to go. He called a ball. Manager Mike Matheny could be heard yelling from the dugout. Martinez reset and got a groundball to third base that ended the inning and kept the Brewers within reach.
If the Cardinals didn't have to reach for offense.
A concern before the trade deadline remains one after the deadline as the Cardinals continue to wheeze for runs. The Cardinals got a leadoff single from Kolten Wong in the third inning and a follow-up double by Grichuk. Wong attempted to score on Grichuk's double and was thrown out at the plate by a pinpoint relay from the Brewers. Still, Grichuk got to third, and there he stood. Nelson struck out two batters to keep the Cardinals' scoreless.
Even after the Cardinals found their two runs to tighten the game to 3-2, it was more of that same struggle for the team. Matt Carpenter earned a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, and that prompted the Brewers to go to reliever Anthony Swarzak. The right-hander struck out the next three batters, all right-handed hitters. He got Jedd Gyorko trying to hold back on a breaking ball out of the zone, but Gyorko was unable to check his swing and struck out for the third time in the game.
