MILWAUKEE (AP) - A familiar foil brought the Brewers’ nine-game winning streak to an end.
Cardinals righty Lance Lynn continued his mastery of Milwaukee after striking out 11 in seven innings and Jon Jay hit a three-run homer to give St. Louis a 4-0 victory Monday night.
Lynn allowed three hits and three walks over seven innings before Carlos Martinez finished off the surprising Brewers, who still have the majors’ best record at 10-3. Lynn (3-0) frustrated hitters by mixing a fastball that topped 95 mph with a slider.
“He throws the nice breaking ball and he usually keeps the ball down well,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “Every time I’ve seen the guy, he’s tough.”
Lynn boasted a career 2.53 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 42-plus innings over 10 games against the Brewers coming in.
Jhonny Peralta hit a solo shot in the second off Brewers starter Matt Garza (0-2) before Jay sent a ball over the wall near the right field corner in the sixth.
Roenicke said he didn’t think Garza had his best stuff, yet Garza kept pace with Lynn until running into trouble in the sixth. Allen Craig reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs and Peralta singled to set up Jay’s homer.
Until then, the Brewers seemed like they were so close to getting out of the jam after throwing out a runner at home and retiring a runner trying to advance to third for the second out.
“I felt we had momentum after we had the tag at home … and then (Jay’s homer) was a backbreaker,” Garza said. “But we’re fine. We’ll come back and we’ll start a new (streak) tomorrow.”
Lynn cooled off a Brewers team that was off to its best start since opening the 1987 season with 13 straight wins.
Lynn had Brewers batters missing all night. Jonathan Lucroy, a .357 hitter entering Monday, missed badly on a fastball low in the zone in the second for a strikeout. Two batters later, Scooter Gennett was left frozen at the plate on a called third strike on a heater outside.
Milwaukee’s best hope to score came in the fifth after No. 8 hitter Logan Schafer doubled to right with two outs to put runners at second and third. But that brought Garza, a career .094 hitter, to the plate and he struck out on three pitches.
Otherwise, the Brewers didn’t get another runner past second.
“Location. He was making good pitches early on and it looked like he had a little more life,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said about Lynn.
With Lynn in control, about the only other drama provided by the Cardinals was when leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter was ejected in the fifth after apparently saying something to umpire Bob Davidson following a called third strike.
Garza allowed nine hits and four runs, and struck out six in seven innings for Milwaukee. Rookie reliever Wei-Chung Wang, a Rule 5 pick, allowed a hit but pitched a scoreless ninth in making his big league debut.
Wang, 21, of Taiwan, said through an interpreter he was more nervous when he made his spring training debut. “I’m happy I didn’t give up any runs,” said Wang, teased in the clubhouse afterward for giving his first interview.
Wang also saw snow for the first time and got his first major league paycheck Monday. Flurries fell before the game outside Miller Park, which has a retractable roof.
Jean Segura, who was batting 1 for 19 at home entering Monday, had two of the hits against Lynn.
NOTES: Cardinals C Yadier Molina got a day off after catching the season’s first 12 games. … Manager Ron Roenicke said right-handed hitter Rickie Weeks and lefty swigging Gennett remain in a platoon at second base. … St. Louis’ Shelby Miller (0-2) faces Milwaukee’s Marco Estrada (1-0) on Tuesday.
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