​For the first time in what feels like the entire series, the Brewers grabbed the game’s early lead and built it into a sizable cushion. Behind Logan Henderson’s impressive return to the mound—the first start since May 22—Jake Bauers delivered the pivotal three-run homer in the top of the third, sealing an 8-4 victory for the Crew. In a rare five-game set, Milwaukee visited Busch Stadium and showed a little bit of everything: comeback potential, dominating pitching, and the occasional misstep. It marked the Brewers’ first four-win swing in St. Louis since July 2008, pushing their record 18 games above .500.
Henderson came out roaring in the bottom of the first, fanning two of the Cardinals’ top four hitters—Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson—to set the tone. In the top of the second, Bauers jump-started the offense with a single to center. After a wild pitch moved him to second, Andrew Vaughn grounded into a fielder’s choice. During the rundown play, Bauers pulled off a remarkable move to avoid being tagged out as the lead runner, a sequence Bauers later described as the “Okie-Doke” in a postgame interview. Sal Frelick cashed in on the opportunity, driving in the game’s first run to put Milwaukee ahead 1-0. Shortly thereafter, Cooper Pratt added another run with a single up the middle, extending the lead to 2-0. Pratt continued his hot stretch, tallying nine hits over his last 22 at-bats with four RBIs and six walks.
After Henderson cruised through a clean 1-2-3 inning in the second, Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio helped set up another big inning for Milwaukee. Brice Turang delivered his first RBI of the night with a base hit to widen the gap to 3-0. A few batters later, Andrew Pallante missed with a curveball up to Bauers, and he ripped it into right field for a three-run homer, pushing the lead to 6-0.
Henderson kept piling up the zeros in his first start back from the injured list, retiring 10 consecutive batters before Burleson lined a double to center, giving the Cardinals life. After a groundout from Walker, Lars Nootbaar singled to center for the first Cardinals run, trimming Milwaukee’s lead to 6-1. Henderson’s rhythm was interrupted in the bottom of the fourth when he hit JJ Wetherholt to begin the frame, snapping a streak of four straight retired batters. Iván Herrera followed with a strikeout, and Burleson drew a walk, signaling the end of Henderson’s night on a high note for much of the evening.
Chad Patrick replaced him and immediately surrendered a three-run homer to Walker, cutting the lead to 6-4. That was the lone blemish on Patrick’s night, as he settled in and retired the next five batters faced. Milwaukee still looked to push the advantage further, with Turang delivering another big swing—homering to lead off the sixth to extend the lead and help seal the win.