St. Louis Cardinals

Wild-card showdown: Cardinals, Brewers square off in crucial series

Published Sep. 24, 2018 2:11 p.m. ET

Minutes after the St. Louis Cardinals coughed up a lead and lost to the Cincinnati Reds on July 14 to drop to 47-46, manager Mike Matheny said they had a good run in them.

Turns out Matheny was right. But that good run wasn't with him in the dugout.

Management fired Matheny just a few minutes after his postgame prediction, installing Mike Shildt as interim manager. Since then, St. Louis (87-69) has gone 40-23, earning Shildt the permanent manager's job and propelling itself into position to return to the postseason for the first time in three years.

The Cardinals start their last home series of the year Monday night against one of the teams they're trying to catch, the Milwaukee Brewers (89-67). The Brewers currently reside two games ahead of St. Louis for the National League's first wild card after each team won in blowout fashion Sunday. The Cardinals hold the second wild card, 1 1/2 games ahead of Colorado.

"It's going to be a good series," said Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas, who won his 17th game Sunday in a 9-2 rout. "We feel like a team that is real dangerous and can give a team a lot of trouble. The team is doing a good job of staying in the moment, worrying about today."

Sunday's victory over San Francisco, which completed a weekend sweep, was a good representation of St. Louis' recent focus. Instead of looking ahead to their showdown with Milwaukee, the Cardinals played a crisp game.

Mikolas gave up just two hits and one earned run over seven strong innings. St. Louis blew it open with a five-run seventh that included two perfect pieces of baseball -- a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Harrison Bader and a lovely hit-and-run single by Yairo Muñoz that scored the running Yadier Molina from second.

"We take them one by one and it added up to three," Shildt said of sweeping the Giants. "The guys just played the game the right way and executed. This time of the year is about playing the game right and executing."

The Cardinals have juggled their rotation to lead off the series with rookie right-hander Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08 ERA), who has dominated the Brewers in three starts this year. Flaherty is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA, fanning 29 batters in 18 innings and allowing a .161 opponents' batting average.

But since a 5-2 win Aug. 28 over Pittsburgh, Flaherty is winless in his last four starts, including a 7-3 setback Wednesday in Atlanta. He permitted five hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings, walking two and whiffing six.

Chase Anderson had been scheduled to start for Milwaukee, but manager Craig Counsell scratched him about 30 minutes after a 13-6 triumph Sunday in Pittsburgh. The Brewers will use their bullpen, opening with left-hander Dan Jennings, who is 4-5 with a 3.23 ERA in 71 appearances, all in relief, this season.

Counsell says that regardless of what combination of pitchers they use, the Brewers won't change their approach just because it's a big series.

"You come in and play the game, and you give everything you've got," he told MLB.com. "We're trying to keep the same attitude every day."