ST. LOUIS – When the Cardinals beat the Brewers on Monday at Busch Stadium, they reveled in the fact that they applied nearly constant “pressure” to their rivals by getting men on base in seven innings and taking 10 at bats with runners in scoring position.

On Wednesday, the Cardinals went six innings between their first hit and their second knock, and they didn’t scratch on the scoreboard until there were two outs in the eighth inning. For much of the game, the Cards’ most significant hit was the ball hitting the shin of Nathan Church, one that knocked him out of the game with a painful contusion. Church was the 28th Cardinal hit by a pitch this season, easily the most in MLB.

Milwaukee scored four times in the first inning and six times overall -- all of them with two outs -- and got a strong start from Brandon Sproat in a 6-2 defeat of the Cardinals to split the rain-interrupted two-game series.

“Sometimes you just run into days like today, where their stuff was better than our hitting,” said Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson, who drove in his team’s first run of the day. “I just think that’s all it was. We’ll obviously play them again and we’ll learn from what they had today and go from there.”  

Andrew Vaughn ended a seven-pitch battle in the first inning with a three-run home run off Cardinals’ right-hander Andre Pallante to give the Brewers’ all the run support they would need on a cool, windy day at Busch Stadium.

“I got out of my plan and got hurt by it,” Pallante said. “I’m capable of getting these guys out and I didn’t do that in the first inning. (Getting out of his game plan) was the most frustrating part, for sure.”

The Cardinals beat the Brewers 6-3 on Monday by hammering out 11 hits – none of them bigger than Ivan Herrera’s three-run double. Tuesday’s game was postponed due to inclement weather, and it will be made up on July 7 as part of a split doubleheader.

Pallante retired the first two batters of the game on six pitches, but he was then hit hard the rest of the first inning. All four first-inning runs came with two outs – as were single runs in the fifth and ninth innings. The Brewers had seven of their 11 hits and all six runs with two outs on Wednesday. On the season, Milwaukee ranks second in MLB with two-out runs and 16th in two-out hits.

“Pallante actually threw the ball well in the first inning, but he got away from his game plan to a certain degree and fell behind some guys with 2-1 and 3-1 counts and that led to runs,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol said. “Then, a couple of infield singles and a broken-bat single and a pitch that gets away led to another run. But, overall, I thought he attacked, mixed well and landed his stuff and gave us a shot. But, in that first inning, he has to regroup.”  

Pallante couldn’t overcome the first-inning troubles, but he did power through six innings of work. The right-hander, who has featured more swing-and-miss stuff this season, allowed eight hits, five earned runs and two walks over six innings. The loss evened his record at 3-3 and took his ERA to 4.34.

Prior to the game – and again after – Marmol pointed to Pallante maturing as a pitcher and not allowing poor innings to tank outings as badly. While he started slowly on Wednesday, Pallante allowed just five hits over his final five innings of work.

“Overall, the biggest difference between him this year and previous years is not letting it snowball or not letting a walk or back-to-back singles get to him,”: said Marmol, whose club went 3-2 on their five-game homestand. “He’s been able to take a step back and make a pitch to get out of innings and limit the damage. The first inning (on Wednesday), that wasn’t the case, but besides that he threw the ball really well."

Church, who has opened eyes with his surprising pop (five home runs) and strong defensive play (three home run robberies), left Busch Stadium with a massive welt his leg and a swollen shin after being hit a second time this season. Church was happy that he avoided a serious injury and is hopeful he can be back in the lineup by this weekend when the Cardinals take on the Padres in San Diego.

Eight different Cardinals have been hit by pitches this season, with Ivan Herrera’s eight leading all of baseball. Their 28 hit by pitches are seven more than the next-closest team in the National League (Miami with 21).

“You don’t want to get hit by pitches, but that’s just part of baseball,” Marmol said.

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!