Willy Adames homered for the fifth straight game to tie a Milwaukee record as the Brewers beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 9-3 on Monday afternoon in the opener of a three-game series.
Jackson Chourio hit a grand slam and Rhys Hoskins also went deep as the Brewers (81-57) won for the sixth time in seven games.
Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta (10-7) allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked two.
Pedro Pages homered twice for St. Louis (69-69), which had won four of five.
Cardinals starter Andre Pallante (6-7) surrendered five runs on five hits in five innings, striking out three and walking a season-high five.
Pallante walked Chourio and Jake Bauers in the first inning before Adames stepped in with two outs.
After fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, Adames lifted a fastball that landed just beyond the reach of left fielder Lars Nootbaar and bounced off the top of the fence for a three-run homer to open the scoring.
It was the 29th home run of the season for Adames, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Monday.
It was also his 13th three-run blast of the season,
which ties Ken Griffey Jr. for the all-time major league record.
Peralta did not allow a hit until Pages homered over the center field fence to start the third inning and cut the deficit to 3-1.
Garrett Mitchell singled to begin the fourth inning for Milwaukee. Hoskins then jumped on a two-strike slider and pulled it over the fence in left for a two-run homer and a 5-1 lead.
Pages went deep again with one out in the fifth to trim the lead to 5-2.
Peralta retired the first batter in the sixth before he exited after allowing a single to Brendan Donovan and a double to Paul Goldschmidt.
Bryan Hudson entered and gave up a sacrifice fly to pinch-hitter Luken Baker to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Hoskins walked to begin the bottom half of the sixth before Sal Frelick followed with a double into the right-field corner. Another walk to Joey Ortiz loaded the bases for Chourio, who belted Milwaukee’s eighth grand slam of the season to extend the lead to 9-3.
–Field Level Media
