MILWAUKEE _ Whatever happened later in the game to flip the Cardinals' lead and turn this short series back to the Brewers was overshadowed Wednesday afternoon by the sudden departure of Cardinals starter Alex Reyes.
A storm rolled over Miller Park late in the afternoon.
The clouds arrived for the Cardinals in the fourth inning.
Reyes, back after a 15-month absence to recover from elbow surgery, threw 73 pitches and completed four innings. During that fourth inning a meeting on the mound included the team's head trainer, and Reyes did not come out for the fifth inning.
After the game, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny confirmed that the drop in velocity led to the meeting on the mound and also played a part in removing the right-hander from the game. Reyes said he felt some fatigue in his arm that he had not experienced during rehab outings, and the team and pitcher traced that back to the length of the second inning.
"Just saw a drop in velocity," Matheny said. "Needed to go check out and see what was going on. Nothing that he didn't normally feel and looks like those last few pitches (were good). Got us concerned."
Reyes will have further examination once the team returns to Busch Stadium. Reyes said he'll have to see how his arm responds and that will determine the level of concern _ if any.
He was capable of throwing at least another inning according to his raw pitch count, but the Cardinals intended to be conservative with him if he encountered any stress innings.
When Reyes left the game it was a scoreless tie. The Brewers took a lead against reliever John Gant, but the Cardinals answered with a two-run inning in the top of the seventh. For the second consecutive game, Harrison Bader opened an inning with a homer. That tied the game. What followed was a single, an error and two sacrifice hits that would put the Cardinals ahead, 2-1. Tommy Pham had the tiebreaking sacrifice fly to score Dexter Fowler on a nifty slide away from a tag.
Fowler, back in the lineup, had three hits.
It took one pitch for the Brewers to tie the game. Christian Yelich greeted Tyler Lyons with a mammoth home run to tie the game. Yelich hit a ball that traveled about halfway up the scoreboard. The Brewers then got three singles against right-hander Sam Tuivailala, and Orlando Arcia delivered the RBI single that put the Brewers ahead.
That meant the Cardinals had to deal with the best bullpen in baseball. They already had two runs against the 2.50-ERA group. Lefty Josh Hader quelled the Cardinals quickly. He struck out three batters in the eighth inning and seemed to have the ninth under wraps before a series of short grounders and a walk to Marcell Ozuna. That put the tying run on third base and meant closer Corey Knebel had to enter the game.
Knebel struck out Jose Martinez to secure the one-run win and the series victory for the first-place Brewers. Milwaukee regains a five-game lead on the Cardinals.
The Cardinals finished the road trip 3-3 and head home to start a series against Pittsburgh on Thursday.
