ST. LOUIS – As the Trade Deadline approached, Brewers closer Devin Williams was fresh off the injured list. The man who held the job in his stead, Trevor Megill, had recently been placed on it. Bullpen depth from the right side was a clear need, and since being acquired from the Rockies, Nick Mears has ably filled that role.

This week in St. Louis, though, Mears hit his first significant stumbling block as a Brewer, and he was responsible for all three runs allowed in Milwaukee’s 3-0 loss to the Cardinals on Thursday afternoon, swinging the series to the Brewers’ NL Central rivals.

Those three runs came while recording only two outs in the bottom of the seventh. After getting Tommy Pham to pop up to second to open the frame, Mears allowed consecutive singles to Victor Scott II, Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson before walking Willson Contreras to force in the first run of what had been a scoreless duel between pitching staffs.

A second run then scored on Brendan Donovan’s soft bloop to center. The Brewers forced Contreras out at second on the play, but the ball finding grass forced Mears from the game.

“He got a couple really tough plays,” manager Pat Murphy said. “One we missed it by an inch, the soft line drive [by Winn], and then the other base hit, we had [Scott] picked off … he would’ve been out of that inning, and we wouldn’t have talked about it. But after that, he didn’t put the ball where he wanted to, didn’t stay ahead in the count.

“Walk somebody with the bases loaded, that’s unacceptable.”

“It sucks at the end of the day, but I’m out there to do a job and put up a zero,” Mears said. “Even after stuff like that happens, it’s go back to work. I felt like I made some good pitches, I made a few bad pitches, and I got punished for it.”

In looking back at the walk to Contreras, Mears highlighted a check swing that broke in the direction of the Cardinals’ catcher as a spot in the at-bat “that sticks out.”

“I think I might’ve caved a little bit,” he said. “I thought that he went, but in the end, I’m out there to make pitches, so I might’ve gotten caught up in a moment, and I need to be better about that.”

The Milwaukee offense offered little by way of support for Mears’ tough outing, as they failed to record a hit between the first and ninth innings. Jackson Chourio doubled and William Contreras singled in the first against Miles Mikolas, but the bats went silent until Garrett Mitchell singled to center against Ryan Helsley with one out in the ninth.

“[Mikolas] has been a great pitcher, and he’s very capable of that,” Murphy said. “He dominated us today.”

Freddy Peralta’s second start at Busch Stadium this season nearly matched his first, as he tossed five shutout innings on 92 pitches with two strikeouts, two walks and a hit by pitch. Combined with his previous start here on April 19, the righty provided 11 road shutout innings against the Cardinals in 2024, though Thursday’s no-decision leaves him still in search of the first win of his career in St. Louis.

The total of two strikeouts for Peralta was his fewest in any appearance since a three-inning start against the Nationals on May 22, 2022, and his fewest against the Cardinals since he got through only two innings on Aug. 18, 2021. Peralta said that he struggled to find command of his breaking pitches, and threw only six sliders among his 92 offerings.

“I only had my fastball and changeup working today,” he said. “I didn’t want to raise that use of the slider based on knowing that they have some hitters that are good with the breaking stuff.”

“I thought [Peralta] was good,” Murphy assessed. “Five innings of shutout against a team that’s got nothing to lose, you know what I mean? ... The pitch count got up there, and I’m not interested in him going 100-plus [pitches] when he’s got a lot of big starts left.”

Mears was also responsible for both St. Louis runs in Tuesday’s 3-2 Brewers victory, surrendering a two-run homer to Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the eighth inning of that game. This tough week broke a stretch of four consecutive scoreless appearances by Mears, and represents the first time he’s allowed an earned run in consecutive games since pitching for the Rockies in Minnesota on June 10 and 12.

“Whether it’s a good or bad outing, it’s get back to work,” Mears reiterated. “At this level, if you’re not improving, then you’re not getting any better.”