MILWAUKEE — Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado waited in front of his locker in the visiting clubhouse after Thursday night’s series-opening loss in Milwaukee. That extended the losing streak to five straight games.
Arenado sat patiently and waited for reporters to finish peppering starting pitcher Sonny Gray with questions. He sat in plain view, knowing the questions would come his way. When they did, Arenado claimed the blame.
As far as Arenado was concerned, Gray’s three-run first inning and the 7-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that followed at American Family Field fell on Arenado’s shoulders for not making a play that could have drastically changed that inning and Gray’s entire outing.
“Sonny has been so good for us, and he’s picked us up every game,†Arenado said. “I know he would sit here and say that wasn’t one of his better outings, but if I pick him up in the first we’re probably not sitting here talking about this. Our pitchers have been picking us up the whole year.â€
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Gray hit the type of speed bump that every pitcher eventually hits. Of course, Gray had been so good that it started to look like he might not have one of “those days.†The veteran had dominated so thoroughly through his first five starts wearing the birds on the bat across his chest that it seemed possible, though highly improbable, that Gray wouldn’t succumb to the pitfalls of a normal pitcher.
Gray entered the game with a 0.89 ERA, and he had allowed just two earned runs (five total runs) in his first five starts. He hadn’t allowed a run in the first four innings of any start this season. He’d allowed just one home run.
The Brewers scored three in the first inning, five in the first four innings. Gray gave up a season-high six runs in five innings. He allowed seven hits, including three home runs, walked a batter, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score.
When Willy Adames hit a bouncer to Arenado in that first inning with the score still 0-0, Gray’s aura of relative invincibility remained intact. It looked as though Gray had authored an escape and he’d proceed as usual.
Only that’s not how things unfolded.
Gray had given up a pair of one-out singles to William Contreras and Christian Yelich when Adames came to the plate. Arenado, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, had already gone through the exercise in his head of how he’d handle a grounder hit to him in that scenario.
When Arenado gloved Adames’ grounder, he tried to tag Contreras and then throw to first base for and inning-ending double play. Instead, Arenado missed the tag when Contreras threw on the brakes. Arenado threw to first and got the force there for the second out.
However, Arenado left runners on second and third by not tagging Contreras. Gray then had to face Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins with a pair of runners in scoring position.
During Hoskins’ at-bat, Gray uncorked a wild pitch that hit the ground and got past catcher Pedro Pages as Contreras scored the game’s first run. Then Gray left a 2-1 pitch over the outer third of the plate and Hoskins smashed it for a two-run home run.
That gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
“I made a mistake,†Arenado said. “What I should have done is slow down, tag. Make sure I just get the third base out. I thought – I saw him kind of takeoff right away, so I thought I had a chance to field it and tag him like I tried, but he got out of the way.
“I’ve got to make that play and just slow it down there. My instincts were just make a tag and try and turn a double play and get out of it. I made a mistake. I’ve got to pick up Sonny there and get the out at third and just keep that runner from being in scoring position. I feel bad. I messed up there. That inning is on me.â€
Gray (4-2) faulted his own execution on the pitch to Hoskins. He’d intended to locate his sinker in, but he missed “right where the guys wants it.â€
Gray, who’d been slated to start the finale of the series against the New York Mets on Wednesday at Busch Stadium, offered a blunt assessment of his outing.
“I got beat. I think even a lot of the outs were loud outs,†Gray said.
The Brewers (22-15) followed the three-run first inning with a run on the first pitch of the second inning when Jake Bauers, the No. 8 hitter in their lineup, jumped on a first-pitch fastball and blasted it 417 feet to right field for a solo home run.
Gray didn’t give up another hit until the fourth inning when he gave up a two-out solo home run to No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz.
In the fifth, Contreras swatted a leadoff single and scored on a Christian Yelich RBI triple.
“They swung early at my fastball and didn’t miss,†Gray said. “That doesn’t happen a ton.â€
Gray said he had familiarity with the Brewers lineup and hitters, but he did acknowledge that there was a significant difference after he’d been preparing for the Mets and geared up to pitch on Wednesday.
He struggled to make an adjustment after the Brewers came out so aggressively.
“I just didn’t know where to go to be honest,†Gray said. “I just didn’t know where to go after that was happening. I maybe felt a little under-prepared with working through the Mets all week. I didn’t know where to go after that. So I was trying new things on the fly.â€
The Cardinals offensive struggles continued. They had just six hits, went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 men on base. Michael Siani went 2 for 4, and he was the only Cardinal with a two-hit game.
As far as the early deficit playing factor in the offensive struggles, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol rejected that idea out of hand.
“At some point you’ve just got to score,†Marmol said. “You get punched in the face, punch back. It’s the first inning. You’ve got eight more chances. You have got to be able to battle back from that. We just haven’t been able to, not just tonight. Just in general, we haven’t been able to do that. It comes down to stringing together quality at-bats.â€
Lars Nootbaar’s third home run of the season and second in his last two games came in the third inning and assured the Cardinals wouldn’t get shut out.
However, the Cardinals missed a big opportunity to take a big chunk out of a four-run deficit in the fifth inning.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth thanks to a pair of walks by Pages and Brendan Donovan sandwiched around a Siani single.
Nootbaar, facing left-handed reliever Jared Koenig, hit a grounder to the Brewers’ third baseman Ortiz. The throw went home for the force out.
Then Arenado popped up the first pitch he saw from Koenig in foul territory with the bases loaded for the second out.
Alec Burleson fouled-off five pitches in an eight-pitch at-bat before he swatted a fly ball caught a step in front of the warning track in right-center field for the final out of the inning.
Arenado, who collected his only hit (a double) in the ninth inning, also faulted himself for the futile offensive performance.
“I’ve just got to be better,†Arenado said. “I had chances with bases loaded and I popped up again, and that hurts because I feel like that’s my job. They got on base for me, and I’ve just got to be better.
"I haven’t been what I would like to be. I know I’m putting the work. I know I’m doing fine on both sides of the ball, but it’s not at the level that this team needs. I’ve got to find a way to clean it up and pick it up.â€