Segura finds redemption with glove in ugly win

ST. LOUIS -- A sloppy win beats a tidy loss every time, especially when wins are as elusive as they've been for the Milwaukee Brewers.

"I think it's a positive thing," second baseman Scooter Gennett said after the Brewers beat the Cardinals on Monday, 5-4, despite a long list of misplays. "It's not good the way we threw the ball around … but to get a win on a game that we didn't play our best, that's a positive. We'll play better and clean it up a little bit more when it comes to those certain things [opponents] take extra bases on -- we take that away, they won't have a chance."

The Brewers entered the day with a 1-5 record and up against ace Adam Wainwright in the Cardinals' home opener. They ended the day with two errors charged to shortstop Jean Segura (each of which led to an unearned run), another Segura misfire that would have been an error if not for a rule that bars official scorers from assuming a double play, and a Ryan Braun bobble in right field that could have been an error at the official scorer's discretion.

Video: MIL@STL: K-Rod snags a quick liner in the 9th 

And yet they ended the day with a series-opening victory, thanks largely to two fine defensive plays. Segura dove up the middle to take away a Matt Carpenter hit leading off the eighth inning. And closer Francisco Rodriguez snared a comebacker leading off the ninth on the way to a six-pitch save, admitting later that he "just threw my glove up there and found one."

"Yeah, it was kind of an ugly win," manager Ron Roenicke said. "Right now, it's a win. The thing I like is like with [Segura]. OK, he didn't have a good day, but what I liked is, all of a sudden, he makes a great play for you. I always tell the guys, 'The errors, they're part of this game. But I want to see what you do after that.'"

In the fourth inning, Segura aired a relay throw on a would-be double play over first base, where it struck a Cardinals security official and disappeared under the man's chair. Segura was charged an error when Kolten Wong scored the Cardinals' tying run. Gennett never saw the baseball and briefly argued for a dead ball, but to no avail.

Video: MIL@STL: Wong scores on Segura's error in the 4th

In the fifth, Segura threw wildly on another double-play try, then did the same in the seventh on Matt Holliday's grounder up the middle. On all three occasions, circumstances forced Segura to make a firm throw, and he missed high.

"You can't control making errors in the game. It's part of being human in baseball," Segura said. "I don't want to make any mistakes, but just don't stop. Come strong and keep doing your best and be ready for the next one. I make those two errors, and then I make the diving play that might save the game. … It was a big play to me."