MILWAUKEE _ It had been a few months since the Cardinals last trekked north to Wisconsin and visited the Land of Yelich, where they had such trouble in April keeping the reigning National League MVP contained.
This time they had a new approach.
Stay so far ahead, Yelich alone couldn't keep up.
The Cardinals scored six runs in the second inning against lefty Gio Gonzalez and sped away for a 12-2 victory Monday night at Miller Park. The Cardinals won for the 14th time in 17 games and widened their lead on the Brewers to 5 { games. The first-place Cardinals have a three-game lead on the second-place Cubs. The Cardinals have won seven of their last eight games against the Brewers, and it could have been eight consecutive if not for the rain-shortened loss this past week at Busch Stadium.
Marcell Ozuna provided half of the Cardinals' six runs in the second with a bases-clearing double. Paul DeJong put a home run off the scoreboard in dead center field, and he nearly had another homer to straightaway center field before the Brewers' Lorenzo Cain caught it at the wall. DeJong had to settle for a sacrifice fly and his third RBI of the game.
In the first inning, Yadier Molina started the Cardinals scoring with a two-run single that brought home his 900th and 901st RBIs of his career.
Molina hit his fifth homer of the season in the fourth.
Seven of the first eight spots in the Cardinals' order scored at least a run.
The Cardinals scored at least 11 runs in consecutive games for the first time since August 2017. As an organization, they have never scored at least 11 runs in three consecutive games.
With the lopsided score, the most intriguing moment of the game came on the mound, not at the plate. In the fourth inning, manager Mike Shildt removed starter Adam Wainwright with a seven-run lead and the tying run nowhere near the bat rack, let alone approaching the on-deck circle. Yet, with Yelich coming the plate and two runners on base, Shildt turned to the bullpen four ours before Wainwright could qualify for the win.
It was a telling move_telling for where the Cardinals are with the bullpen's readiness, telling for where the Cardinals intend to stay in the standings, and telling for their read on Wainwright 90 pitches into his start.
The righthander had throw 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits and three walks. He tiptoed around all of that traffic to keep the Brewers at bay. The first run they scored on him came after Eric Thames' triple into the right field, corner and the second came on Cain's double in the fourth inning. One walk later and Wainwright was out of the game to get John Gant against Yelich.
Yelich walked.
That's better than a homer.
But even that wouldn't have tied the game.
Gant found his feel and pressed on for 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He did not allow a hit and struck out two of the final three batters he faced.
.png?w=600)
