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Milwaukee Brewers beat St. Louis Cardinals

By Bucky Dent, The Sports Xchange
Milwaukee Brewers Jason Rodgers watches his grand slam home run leave the park in the ninth inning against the St. L:ouis Cardinas at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 27, 2015. Milwaukee defeated St. Louis 8-4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
1 of 8 | Milwaukee Brewers Jason Rodgers watches his grand slam home run leave the park in the ninth inning against the St. L:ouis Cardinas at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 27, 2015. Milwaukee defeated St. Louis 8-4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 7 -- Jason Rogers threw a 425-foot monkey wrench into the St. Louis Cardinals' final home game.

The Milwaukee Brewers' pinch-hitter walloped a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning Sunday, supplying the big hit in a seven-run outburst that gave his team a come-from-behind 8-4 win at Busch Stadium.

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Closer Trevor Rosenthal (2-4) was looking for his single-season club record 48th save, but never even recorded an out. Pinch-hitter Shane Peterson singled, catcher Martin Maldonado was beaned by a changeup and pinch-hitter Jonathan Lucroy walked as the sellout crowd of 45,021 murmured.

Those murmurs turned into groans when Rogers turned on an 0-1 offering, driving it into the bleachers in left-center to hand Rosenthal his third blown save.

Left fielder Khris Davis, who started the scoring with a solo homer in the second, finished it with a three-run clout, his 26th of the year, off reliever Seth Maness.

David Goforth (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for his first big league win as Milwaukee (66-90) improved to 3-4 on its 10-game road trip.

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After St. Louis managed an unearned run in the ninth and pushed the tying run to the on-deck circle, Francisco Rodriguez entered and retired pinch-hitter Brandon Moss for his 37th save in 39 chances.

St. Louis (98-58) saw its National League Central lead over Pittsburgh dwindle to 2 1/2 games, pending the outcome of the Pirates' game Sunday night at the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals start a three-game series Monday night in Pittsburgh.

St. Louis grabbed a 3-1 lead in the seventh on back-to-back homers by third baseman Matt Carpenter and right fielder Stephen Piscotty.

Cardinals starter John Lackey worked seven innings, giving up five hits and a run with two walks and seven strikeouts, but was denied his fourth win over the Brewers.

Milwaukee starter Tyler Cravy left the game after three innings, allowing just one hit and no runs with three walks and two strikeouts.

St. Louis reached reliever Kyle Lohse for the tying run in the fourth on a bouncer to second by catcher Tony Cruz, scoring first baseman Matt Adams.

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NOTES: St. Louis clinched a postseason home game with Saturday night's win over Milwaukee, even if it can't hang on to win the Central Division over Pittsburgh. It would host the Chicago Cubs in a wild-card game on Oct. 7. ... Milwaukee has had 11 players make their major league debut this year, a franchise record. That will become 12 Tuesday night in San Diego when RHP Jorge Lopez starts. ... The Cardinals didn't start LF Matt Holliday Sunday, although it was seen as a rest day after two straight starts. He'll likely be in the lineup Monday night when they start a showdown series at the Pirates.

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