Ryan Braun's ninth-inning grand slam rallied the visiting Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.
Braun crushed a two-out, 3-2 pitch from Cardinals reliever Junior Fernandez to erase a 4-3 deficit in dramatic fashion.
The Brewers (80-69) won for the ninth time in 10 games to move within three games of the National League-Central leading Cardinals (83-66). Milwaukee is one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card spot.
Reliever Matt Albers (7-5), the fifth of six Brewers pitchers, earned the victory. Josh Hader closed out the game to earn his 33rd save, despite giving up a two-run homer to Tommy Edman.
John Gant (10-1), the sixth of eight Cardinals pitchers, took the loss.
Harrison Bader hit two homers for the Cardinals, with Paul DeJong and Edman contributing two-run shots. Cory Spangenberg hit a two-run homer for the Brewers.
With closer Carlos Martinez unavailable due to a respiratory illness and the Cardinals leading 4-3, Gant entered the game in the ninth inning and walked three of the four batters he faced. Tyler Webb got Mike Moustakas to fly out, but Braun's slam put the Brewers ahead 7-4.
Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha held the Brewers scoreless on five hits for five innings before manager Mike Shildt began his bullpen parade.
Brewers starting pitcher Chase Anderson worked just four innings before exiting for a pinch hitter. He allowed just one hit, Bader's first homer.
Spangenberg's two-run homer in the seventh inning put the Brewers up 2-1.
But DeJong hit two-run homer and Bader hit another solo blast in the bottom of the inning as the Cardinals moved ahead 4-2.
The Brewers scored an unearned run in the eighth. Moustakas hit a fly ball that Bader dropped in right-center field while nearly colliding with teammate Dexter Fowler. Lorenzo Cain's single drove in Moustakas to cut the lead to 4-3.
--Field Level Media
