Cards drop heartbreaker on Crew's walk-off

MILWAUKEE -- Jam after jam was evaded. And then the dam broke loose.

Daniel Vogelbach hammered a walk-off grand slam to sink the Cardinals, 6-5, at American Family Field on Sunday afternoon -- a drastic turn on the last pitch of a game St. Louis led from the fourth inning on.

It was the type of heartbreak the Cardinals have grown too familiar with.

Two Sundays in a row, with the chance to win a series, the Cardinals were instead walked off. This Sunday, against the NL Central-leading Brewers, Giovanny Gallegos handed Alex Reyes a bases-loaded situation with one out in the ninth. Vogelbach promptly sent the second pitch he saw into the St. Louis bullpen.

They put themselves in position to win, nicking Cy Young Award contender Corbin Burnes for three runs and hanging on to the early lead before an overturned and taxed bullpen couldn’t hold much more of the burden.

“That’s what hurts so bad,” said manager Mike Shildt, “facing their No. 1 guy, maybe the [NL] Cy Young Award winner. … We did every little thing possible today to win that baseball game.”

“It seemed like we were playing from behind the whole time,” Vogelbach echoed.

It was a brisk and heartbreaking way for the Cardinals to finish their road trip, going 5-5 instead of 6-4, losing the series to Milwaukee instead of winning it, entering an even bigger and longer series against the Dodgers without momentum, instead of seizing it.

“We played outstanding baseball this whole road trip, and we'd like to have a little bit more to show for it,” Shildt said. “But the strong survive. We’ve got to continue to go out and be strong.”

It was another heartbreak in a season the Cardinals have not seemed able to stomach any more. They played eight crisp innings and held the lead off Burnes. Two of their runs off him came via a nimble and heads-up double from Harrison Bader that was barely a fair ball.

Then things fell apart.

Shildt said that Gallegos was running on empty when he opted for Reyes to face Vogelbach. Gallegos had bailed out Génesis Cabrera an inning prior, needing eight pitches to keep the Cardinals margin at four runs -- only thanks to a leaping grab by Paul Goldschmidt.

For Reyes, it was a return to a role he was yanked from. Since his rough outing last Sunday against Pittsburgh, the Cardinals shifted Gallegos to the closing role, trying to allow Reyes to work himself back up the depth chart in low-leverage situations.

Reyes’ first two outings since being demoted were positive, with a pair of perfect innings and four strikeouts over the past week. And on Sunday, he only had the chance to throw two pitches. The first was a close call that did not go his way. The second was sent 397 feet for a loss he was tagged with but not wholly responsible for.

Luis García, who pitched a scoreless seventh and owns the longest scoreless-innings streak of any MLB pitcher, could start to see some even higher-leverage opportunities going forward.

The Cardinals will need to have a quick memory, though. They can lean into the fact that they played eight crisp innings, but they can’t take solace in the fact that it ruined a chance to keep pace in the chase for the second NL Wild Card spot, which now belongs to the Padres.

“At the end of the day, we have to wipe this one clean pretty quickly and get ready for tomorrow,” said Jon Lester, who continued to find his form, allowing one run across 5 1/3 innings on Sunday.