It was a near repeat of Wednesday night’s action, with the roles reversed—Thursday the Milwaukee Brewers scored on a shaky St. Louis Cardinals starter and held on, thanks to an excellent bullpen, for a series-tying 4-2 victory in Game 4 of the NLCS. The Cardinals couldn’t touch Randy Wolf, and twin closers Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford worked more or less as advertised in the eighth and ninth innings. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig hit solo home runs for the Cardinals, who couldn’t do more damage thanks to an 0-5 night from Rafael Furcal. Kyle Lohse takes the loss after allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
The Brewers and Cardinals will meet Friday night for the final game of the series at Busch Stadium, when Jaime Garcia and Zack Greinke play a Game 1 rematch. As expected, for all our hopes, the Cardinals will have to win at least one more game at Miller Park, home of baseball’s latest absurd home-field advantage.