Rhys Hoskins slugs 3-run homer in 7th to help Brewers send Cardinals to 7th straight loss

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rhys Hoskins hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat St. Louis 5-3 on Saturday night, sending the Cardinals to their seventh straight loss.

Milwaukee trailed 3-2 when Hoskins hit his team-leading ninth homer, a 407-foot blast to center off reliever Andrew Kittredge (0-2).

The NL-Central leading Brewers have eight straight wins over the Cardinals, dating to last season. It’s Milwaukee’s longest winning streak all-time against St. Louis.

The Cardinals, last in the division and nine games behind Milwaukee, have the longest current losing streak in the majors.

“I watched a lot of those moments last year,” said Hoskins, who missed the entire season with a torn right ACL. “So, just to kind of be right back in those is a ton of fun, but something that I’ll never really take for granted.”

Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta, who walked six batters in five innings in his last outing, walked one and struck out eight, giving up three runs in six innings.

Relievers Hoby Milner (1-0), Bryan Hudson and Trevor Megill held St. Louis in check, allowing four hits in three shutout innings. Megill earned his fourth save.

“That was really cool,” Megill said of Hoskins’ homer,

With two outs and a runner on first base in the ninth inning, Paul Goldschmidt tried to rally the Cardinals with a single off Megill, breaking a career-worst 0-for-32 skid. Goldschmidt had struck out in his first four at-bats, including twice with two runners on base.

Megill locked down the win by coaxing a fly out by Nolan Arenado, who went 0 for 5.

St. Louis starter Kyle Gibson struck out seven batters and walked four in five innings. The 36-year-old right-hander had thrown six or more innings in each of his first seven starts this season.

“We have to believe in ourselves and figure out if how we’re going about our business is the way we want to do it and, if it is, you’ve got to keep going,” Gibson said. “You’ve got to pick yourself up after nights like tonight. That’s obviously a punch in the gut having the lead there.”

The Brewers scored their first two runs when batters got hit by pitches with the bases loaded. Gibson hit Jake Bauers in the third inning, and JoJo Romero hit Gary Sánchez in the sixth.

Bauers went 2 for 3. William Contreras went 1 for 2 with two walks and has reached base safely in 19 consecutive games, tied for longest in the majors with the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman.

Lars Nootbaar went 2 for 4 with two RBIs for the Cardinals, who had 12 hits, to the Brewers’ six.

“The at-bats were way better tonight,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We got beat tonight, we didn’t beat ourselves.”

The Cardinals entered Saturday having scored 129 runs, second-worst in the majors behind the White Sox (116).

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Activated INF Matt Carpenter from the injured list. Optioned INF José Fermín to Triple-A Memphis.

Brewers: Activated RHP Mitch White. Optioned RHP Kevin Herget to Triple-A Nashville.

UP NEXT

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (2-5, 6.43 ERA) faces Brewers RHP Bryse Wilson (2-1, 2.40 ERA).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb