Rhys Hoskins, Jake Bauers and Joey Ortiz each homered to cool Sonny Gray as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the slumping St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 on Thursday night.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Cardinals, who opened a four-game series with the NL Central-leading Brewers. Milwaukee has won its last six against St. Louis, a streak that began last season.
Milwaukee's William Contreras and Christian Yelich each went 3 of 4. Jared Koenig (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and worked his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth.
Gray (4-2) has been one of the last-place Cardinals’ few bright spots since signing a three-year, $75 million contract in the offseason, but the 2023 AL Cy Young Award runner-up couldn’t stop St. Louis’ slide.
Through his first five starts, Gray allowed a total of six runs, and only three were earned. His 0.89 ERA was the lowest since 1910 by any Cardinals pitcher in his first five appearances with the organization.
The Brewers scored six runs off Gray on Thursday during his five-inning stint. Gray had given up just one homer all year before the Brewers went deep against him three times.
