Thursday Sports 4/25/19
25 April 2019 Sports
Sports from Wayne Mausser
One St. Louis Cardinals pitcher reached a career milestone, while another added to his growing reputation as one of the league’s toughest relievers. Adam Wainwright was warm enough on a cool day, allowing one run in six innings for his 150th career victory as Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
Jordan Hicks preserved the win with a strikeout of last year’s MVP, Christian Yelich, who had most of the day off but still got a chance to rescue the Brewers. Yelich came up as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Hicks, known for his 100-mph-plus fastball, only threw one heater out of his five pitches to Yelich, the only batter he faced. He got the strikeout on a 91-mph changeup, earning his seventh save in eight chances.
The Brewers loaded the bases with two out while trailing 5-1, but manager Craig Counsell elected to stick with Ben Gamel instead of going to Yelich sooner. Andrew Miller walked Gamel, setting up the Yelich-Hicks matchup. Wainwright (2-2) matched his season low in runs allowed, and it was his first quality start in a game with a starting temperature of 60 degrees or cooler since May 27, 2017.
Marcell Ozuna and Yadier Molina homered for the Cardinals as part of a four-run fourth. Ozuna’s three-run homer extended his on-base streak to 14 games, and it was his 17th career homer against the Brewers, the most he’s had against any opponent. Molina’s blast extended his 12-game hitting streak, tying him with Paul DeJong for the longest by a Cardinal this season. Paul Goldschmidt got the rally started with a single, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
St. Louis’ three-game sweep of Milwaukee was its first against its NL Central rival since July 1-3, 2016. The teams have already played 10 times this season, and Wednesday’s result evened the season series at 5-5. They combined for 45 home runs in the 10 games.
Jhoulys Chacin (2-3) lasted four innings, allowing four runs on five hits. Zach Davies on April 13 was the last Brewers pitcher to turn in a quality start.
The Brewers are off today before beginning a weekend series at New York against the Mets on Friday. Chase Anderson (2-0, 3.00 ERA) will get the start for Milwaukee.
Elsewhere in the N.L. Central Wednesday, the Braves beat the Reds 3-1, the Cubs edged the Dodgers 7-6 and Arizona pounded Pittsburgh 11-2.
The NFL Draft kicks off Thursday with the first round and the Packers have two picks — 12th and the 30th (via trade with the Saints). Packers GM Brian Gutekunst addressed some needs in free agency by signing linebacker Preston Smith, defensive end Za’Darius Smith and safety Adrian Amos. On the offensive side, the Packers added OL Billy Turner.
The draft starts at 7:00 Central with first-round picks. Rounds two and three are Friday and the draft concludes on Saturday with rounds four through seven.
The Bucks open up the Eastern Conference Semi Finals Sunday at home against the Boston Celtics. Milwaukee swept Detroit four games to nothing in the first round of the playoffs while Boston eliminated Indiana.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton is one of 10 finalists for the season-long NBA Cares Community Assist Award, which honors a player’s strong commitment and positive impact on his community over the course of the 2018-19 season. The winner of the award will be chosen by fans on social media and an NBA executive panel. Bucks fans can vote for Middleton on Twitter by using #NBACommunityAssist and #KhrisMiddleton in any tweet, or here<https://nbaworld.jebbit.com/tvt56voh?L=Social>, from today until Sunday, May 5 at 10:59 p.m. CT. Retweets are also counted and votes cast today and on the final day of voting will count twice.
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