Jaime Garcia's near-no-hitter was followed a day later by Yovani Gallardo's—not to mention Justin Verlander picking up the real thing—so it's anyone's guess what will happen in Sunday's game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, where fifth starters Chris Narveson and Kyle McClellan are scheduled to face off against two teams starved for a little offense.
On Friday the Cardinals watched Jaime Garcia take a perfect game into the eighth inning, but after a consecutive walk and single he got out of the inning and picked up his second complete game shutout of the year, which Cardinals brass will just have to live with.
The Brewers' 4-0 win over the Cardinals came at the expense of an excellent performance from Kyle Lohse, who allowed one run in eight innings of work. Gallardo's no-hitter—he walked four—was broken up by Daniel Descalso, who singled in the eighth inning. For the Brewers the win, which broke up an unpleasant losing streak, was important, but having Gallardo back in the saddle might be more important still—he lowered his ERA almost a run with eight scoreless innings, all the way... to 5.11.