ST. LOUIS -- For the first time since the final day of April, the Brewers were nudged out of the National League's postseason picture.
A 7-2 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday at Busch Stadium dropped the slumping Brewers into third place in the National League Central, still 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Cubs, but now one-half game behind the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot.
Travis Shaw and Christian Yelich hit solo home runs, but a terrible night in the field -- four of St. Louis' runs were unearned -- and another mostly quiet night at the plate produced Milwaukee's eighth loss in 11 games and fifth defeat in the first seven games of a critical eight-game trip against Atlanta and the division-rival Cubs and Cardinals. Brewers manager Craig Counsell watched most of Saturday's game from the clubhouse after he was ejected in the first inning.
As quickly as the Brewers have fallen, the Cardinals have soared, winning 10 of their last 11 games to climb back into contention under interim manager Mike Shildt.

"We just have to keep coming to the ballpark and playing," Brewers starter and losing pitcher Wade Miley said. "Obviously, the mood is not where we want it to be. We've kind of gotten our tails kicked the last couple of nights, even in Chicago.
"You just have to realize it's now or never. You've got to go. Not to put a lot of pressure on us, but you have to play better baseball. It's simple."
When asked what they can do to turn it around, Miley said, "Figure it out and let us know."

Miley absorbed a tough-luck loss after being charged with four runs (one earned) in five innings, with all three of the unearned runs scoring in a sloppy third inning. Miley got two outs but could not secure the third, and he did not have much help.
After he was slow to cover first base on Matt Carpenter's would-be double-play grounder, Miley rebounded by striking out St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, which would have ended the inning. But catcher Erik Kratz missed Miley's four-seam fastball for a passed ball that allowed Molina to reach safely. Tyler O'Neill followed with a bloop single that dropped next to first baseman Jesus Aguilar in shallow right field to score Carpenter for a 2-1 lead. O'Neill's hit had a 2 percent hit probability according to Statcast™.
Twice in the inning, the Brewers were burned by their infield shift -- first on a would-be double-play ball off Carpenter's bat before the passed ball and later on Paul DeJong's two-run single through a wide-open right side of the infield to make it 4-1.
"The shift really burned [Miley] a couple times," DeJong said. "It would have been an easy out with anybody else out there, but it's one of those things that it's just lucky."

Both Miley and Kratz took the blame for the critical passed ball. Kratz called a cutter inside but Miley saw fastball and threw it up and away.
"That's on me," Miley said. "I have to do a better job getting the signs."
"You still have to make the play," Kratz said. "I didn't do it, and it cost us a lot of runs."

St. Louis tacked on two more runs against erstwhile closer Corey Knebel in the sixth (one of which was unearned because of shortstop Orlando Arcia's error) and another in the eighth against struggling rookie Corbin Burnes, who has allowed at least one earned run in six of eight August outings.
"If you're timing how hard [Lorenzo Cain] is running down the line, if you're seeing how mad guys are when they strike out in big situations, giving up is not even a question," Kratz said. "We'll give up after we're eliminated. We'll give up after we win the World Series. We'll give up in November when there's no more games. That's when you can say somebody gives up. It's frustrating. No doubt, it's frustrating."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Sixth inning fizzles: The Brewers' best chance to cut the Cards' lead came in the sixth, when Cain's double and Aguilar's one-out single put runners at second and third with one out and the tying run at the plate against St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas. Shaw struck out on three pitches before pinch-hitter Eric Thames took a borderline slider for an inning-ending called third strike. It proved a pivotal inning, as in the bottom of the frame, the Cardinals extended their lead to 6-1 against Knebel.
"Offensively, we need to do a better job," Counsell said. "We need to create more opportunities. We have to cash in on some of these opportunities. We've got to do a better job. We've faced two good pitchers [in Cardinals starters Jack Flaherty and Mikolas], but look, two runs both nights? That's putting no margin of error on the pitching staff."

COUNSELL EJECTED
Tempers flared in the first inning, starting with Cain's ire at being hit by a Mikolas pitch for the second time this season. When Miley threw a pitch behind O'Neill's feet with two outs in the bottom of the inning, home-plate umpire Cory Blaser issued warnings to both benches. That infuriated Miley and prompted Counsell to take the field to get between his pitcher and the umpire for an argument that escalated to Counsell's fourth ejection this season.
"That team has hit me a few times," Cain said. "You definitely don't like getting hit. At the end of the day, we didn't come through and score a bunch of runs against [Mikolas] and knock him out of the ballgame. He hit me, but at the end of the day, he got the job done."
• Getting heated: Tempers flare for Cards, Crew

HE SAID IT
"I wonder how much of it goes back to the [non-waiver Trade] Deadline, the confusion about the players they acquired. And I'm not just saying that because it's my own opinion. I had one of the Brewers players say to me yesterday, 'Hey, when you're in it, you want that push from the front office.' This is a psychology that exists among teams. They want the front office to show that they are trying as hard as the players are to win. When that doesn't happen -- and it happened with Milwaukee, but not in the proper way, in the opinion of some -- sometimes it can deflate a club. Now, that's not the whole story here, and no one should say it is. But it could be part of the story." -- MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal on Saturday's FS1 broadcast, discussing the Brewers' recent struggles after not landing a starting pitcher before the non-waiver Trade Deadline
UP NEXT
Coming off arguably his best and most important start of the season, Jhoulys Chacin will pitch another big game when the Brewers finish their series in St. Louis at 1:15 p.m. CT on Sunday. He struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings against the Cubs on Tuesday for his first double-digit strikeout game of the season and third of his career. The Cardinals have been problematic for Chacin, who is 0-7 with a 6.90 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against them. Right-hander John Gant starts for St. Louis.