ST. LOUIS -- The three-run homer was nice. But it was Jake Bauers’ baserunning maneuver straight out of … somewhere, whether that’s The Matrix film franchise, or gym class dodgeball, or a running back’s highlight reel that Brewers fans may remember most about Wednesday’s 8-4 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Here’s the script: It was the second inning of a scoreless game. Bauers was on second base after a single and a wild pitch when he broke for third -- “Bad read,” he said -- on Andrew Vaughn’s comebacker to pitcher Andre Pallante.
Bauers appeared dead to rights.
Or at least that’s what Pallante, third baseman José Fermín and 27,028 Cardinals fans believed.
Bauers, though, had a plot twist. As Fermín charged toward the bag and caught Pallante’s throw, he stumbled and fell. Bauers hit the brakes and briefly considered retreating toward second to get in a rundown that might give Vaughn a chance to get into scoring position.
Then Bauers saw an opening.
“I was like, ‘There it is. I’m going for it,’” he said.
He planted both feet and dove headfirst. Umpire Jen Pawol was right there and delivered the call: Safe.
“That’s what they’re good at. They put pressure on you every way,” Pallante said of the Brewers.
Besides providing a highlight, Bauers’ acrobatics led to the first of two Brewers runs on back-to-back singles from Sal Frelick and Cooper Pratt.
“I feel like I’ve been working on that for a while, playing pick-up football with my buddies when I was a kid,” Bauers said. “I always wanted it to come out on a baseball field, and I guess tonight was the night.”
For the record, Bauers never actually played organized football. But he does know The Matrix and so does his mother, who texted her son a GIF of the Keanu Reeves character during the game.
And an inning later, Bauers took a more leisurely trip around the bases after belting his 17th home run of the season, a three-run shot that provided the capper to a four-run inning for a 6-0 Brewers lead.
Add it to a season-long highlight reel for the 30-year-old first baseman and outfielder, who isn’t going to the All-Star Game next week but at least has been in the conversation. That in itself is a giant step forward for a former top prospect with the Rays and Guardians who may have been on his way to journeyman status, playing for five teams in his first five seasons in the Majors before finding a foothold with the Brewers. Even then, Bauers came into this season with an 84 OPS+ in his career.
But Bauers hit seven home runs in Spring Training and kept going, becoming the NL Central-leading Brewers’ top home run hitter and RBI producer (57) in the first half.
“You can’t find a player -- Miz [Jacob Misiorowski], maybe -- who has had a bigger impact,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Bauers has had a huge impact this whole year, as well as Brice [Turang], as well as William [Contreras], as well as [Kyle] Harrison. They’re all deserving.”
How did Bauers do it? He stopped thinking about his swing and found it “unlocked my mind” and allowed him to simplify the game. He got in a good spot by hitting seven Spring Training home runs and stayed there all the way through Thursday, when the Brewers won for the fourth time in their marathon five-game, four-day series against the Cardinals.
“There’s bigger goals than my personal stat line for the year,” Bauers said, “so I’m trying to keep my head down and stay focused on that.”
The Cardinals got as close as 6-4 in the sixth, but Turang answered with a solo homer in the seventh and the bullpen held on to send Milwaukee surging toward a well-deserved vacation. After making a statement against the Cardinals in this series, the Brewers have won six of the first eight games of this 11-game road trip (their longest of the season), and 10 of the first 15 games during a stretch of 18 games over 17 consecutive game days leading to the All-Star break.
If they win any of their three games in Pittsburgh to finish it out, the Brewers (59-24) would be the 21st team (including this year’s Dodgers) to reach 60 victories by the All-Star break.
And whatever happens this weekend, the Brewers have already secured the highest winning percentage in franchise history at the break, by a significant margin. The 1979 Brewers played at a .587 clip (54-38) in the first half. The worst the ‘26 Brewers can finish would be .614.
“We’re not done yet,” Bauers said. “But I’ve just been impressed with the day-to-day in here. It doesn’t seem like anybody’s losing focus. You don’t hear much complaining about it. You know guys are tired, you know guys are a little bit banged-up, but on the day-to-day side of it, the preparation, you wouldn’t know it. That’s what I’m most proud of as far as the team goes.”