Cards stay hot with win over Brew Crew

*Photo from NBC Sports*

When the St.Louis Cardinals acquired lefty starter Jon Lester at the trade deadline, no one was expecting him to be a team savior. Yet, somehow, he became one, as he's been on a redemption tour since the deadline. Lester starred again, Nolan Arenado homered, and the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 on Monday night.

   The win has continued a stretch of torrid play in September for the Cardinals. They've now won 9 straight games and have gone 28-18 since the July 30 deadline, asserting themselves firmly in the NL playoff chase, and have a 3 game lead on the second wild card spot in the NL. Additionally, this win for Lester was the 200th of his career, an amazing story for a cancer survivor such as Lester. 

   Arenado talked about Lester postgame, saying that "When you get a pitcher like him, you know he's gonna give you everything he has, and he's gonna keep you in ballgames. I feel like he's better on better teams, and teams that are in it, I feel like that's where he thrives. That's just who he is. It's pretty fun to be a part of, because nothing's too big for him."

   Arenado gave Lester and the Cardinals a boost before the lefty took the mound, smashing a two run home run in the first inning to give the Red Birds a 2-0 lead to get the game going. In the second inning, the Brewers got the game tied 2-2 thanks to solo home runs from Avisail Garcia and Luis Urias. It stayed deadlocked until the 6th inning, when Yadier Molina added an RBI single to make it 3-2 Cardinals.

   In the 7th, the Cardinals doubled the lead to 4-2, thanks to a sac fly from Paul Goldschmidt that scored Matt Carpenter. In the 8th inning, Molina helped the Cardinals once again, putting the game out of reach on an RBI single to left center field, bringing Arenado to the plate.

   Lester's 200th career win improved his season record to 7-6 this season. He was charged with two runs on 3 hits, walking no one and striking out two innings across 6 innings pitched. It was Lester's 3rd consecutive quality start, and his 6th straight start allowing two or less runs. It brings his Cardinals record to 4-1 with a 4.02 ERA since the trade deadline. Kodi Whitley, TJ McFarland, and Luis Garcia shut it down in relief, with Garcia getting his first save. 

   Lester addressed the Cardinals 9 game win streak after the game, saying that "We're playing good teams, and we're playing really good baseball. Hopefully we can continue to get a little more space between us and the next team, to where we really don't have to worry about someone trying to catch us and we can focus on the next step."

   Despite turning in a quality start, Freddy Peralta got hit with the loss for the Brewers, getting charged with 3 runs on 7 hits and one walk, recording 9 strikeouts in 6 innings pitched, dropping to 9-5 so far this season. In relief of Peralta was Hunter Strickland, Brent Suter, and Miguel Sanchez, with Strickland and Suter each giving up one run.

   Brewers manager Craig Counsell was lamenting the team's offensive struggles lately after the game, saying that "Overall, we haven’t done enough offensively. It’s been a dry week except for maybe one or two good innings. We’re in a spot where our pitchers have to be darn near perfect."

   The Cardinals and Brewers play game two of their series this evening, with Jake Woodford taking the mound for the Cardinals, and Brandon Woodruff getting the start for the Brewers.