Randy Wolf Pitches Great — Brewers Win against Cardinals and Tie Series at 2-2

The Milwaukee Brewers, going into tonight’s National League Championship Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals, needed at least one pitcher to step up and pitch a good game.   Even Yovani Gallardo, last night’s starter, wasn’t able to pitch well (he had one bad inning, the first inning, which led to last night’s 4-3 loss against the Cards), and he’s the Brewers ace.   

Up until tonight, it was an open question as to whether or not any of the Brewers pitchers would be able to pitch a good game in the NLCS, much less give the Brewers a chance to win due to the strength of their pitching (rather than the Brewers’ hitters ending up having to bailing out the pitchers with their great hitting).

Then left-handed starter Randy Wolf stepped up to the plate and delivered not only a win, but his first-ever post-season victory.  (Talk about pressure.)  

Wolf pitched seven innings, giving up two solo home runs (one, to Cards OF Matt Holliday, was as cheap as they come, barely getting over the fence near the right field foul pole) and nothing else; he was in command, and pitched a calm and competent game to give the Brewers the chance to win.

Fortunately, the Brewers were able to get four runs, first with two runs off Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse in the fourth inning, then a third run in the fifth inning (also off Lohse, then he was removed from the game), and finally a fourth run in the sixth against Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs.   That was all they needed, as Brewers pitchers Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for a hold, and John Axford pitched a scoreless ninth for a save.

This win by the Brewers ties the series at 2-2, and guarantees that no matter what happens in game 5 tomorrow night in St. Louis, the Brewers will return to Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon.  That’s a good thing, as the Brewers play far better in Miller Park than they do anywhere else — and besides, win or lose, we Brewers fans deserve another chance to cheer for “our guys.”

Mind, I have no idea how Greinke will do in game 5; he didn’t pitch well in game 1, at all, yet managed to eke out a win because the Brewers’ hitters managed to bail Greinke out.  So he’s due to pitch well — but then again, so is Cardinals’ starter Jaime Garcia, who is also returning from a tough stint in game 1 (where his team’s hitters nearly bailed him out).

I guess we’ll see how it goes, but it’s good to know that at least one pitcher besides Gallardo is still capable of buckling down and pitching a good game.  (Thank you very, very much, Randy Wolf!)