ST. LOUIS – The three-run homer was nice. But it was Jake Bauers' baserunning maneuver straight out of The Matrix film franchise 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 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, planted both feet and dove headfirst toward the bag. Umpire Jen Pawol was right there and delivered the call: Safe.
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.
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.
The Cardinals got as close as 6-4 in the sixth, but Brice Turang answered with a solo homer in the seventh and the bullpen held on to send the Brewers surging toward a well-deserved vacation. After winning four of five games against the Cardinals in this marathon series, they 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.