Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio follows through on an RBI single during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday in St. Louis. (Photo courtesy of Associated Press)
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Jackson Chourio followed Brice Turang for back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, becoming the fourth-youngest player since 1900 with four homers in his first 17 games, and the Milwaukee Brewers routed the St. Louis Cardinals 12-5 Saturday.
Rhys Hoskins homered had three RBIs for the Brewers, whose 18 hits were their most in three years. Every Brewers starter had a hit and eight starters had multiple hits for the first time since April 22, 2010. against Pittsburgh. The bottom three batters in the order were 6 for 12 with four RBIs.
“It was a good day offensively,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “They’re starting to get a little confidence. It’s early in the season and you start looking up at the board at the numbers and kids get in their own heads sometimes. I think they’re focused now on just getting good pitches to hit and trying to swing the right way at the ball.”
Milwaukee is a major league-best 9-2 on the road and has won seven of its last eight games against St. Louis. The Brewers had their most hits since 22 in a 17-4 win at the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 12, 2021.
“Whether or not we end up sweeping these guys tomorrow is to be seen, but just to come in here and grab two wins right away and win a series should do a lot for our confidence,” Hoskins said.
Chourio, at 20 years, 20 days, trails only Lou Klimchock in 1958-59 (19 years, 345 days), Tony Conigliaro in 1964 (19 years, 120 days) and Andruw Jones in 1996 (19 years, 138 days) to four homers.
“He’s going to go up and down, but he’s got to stay in the zone,” Murphy said. “He’s got such good hands he’s got to be able to make that pitcher throw him strikes instead of chasing after it. He was great today.”
Bryse Wilson (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings in relief of DL Hall, who allowed four runs, five hits and five walks in 3 2/3 innings. Hoby Milner, Abner Uribe and Thyago Vieira finished a six-hitter.
“It’s been tough,” Hall said. “I’m a perfectionist, so you expect to kind of just of pick up where I left off out of the bullpen. Obviously, that’s not happening right now. But, luckily, I’ve got a great offense behind me that just keeps picking me up time and time again.”
Miles Mikolas (1-3) gave up five runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, who have lost three straight games for the first time this season.
“It stinks,” Mikolas said. “We played some great defense today, put some runs on the board. I wasn’t able to keep the runs off the board. That one’s on me today. I didn’t do my job out there.”
Turang tied the score 4-4 with a two-run homer off a slider in the fourth. Four pitches later, Chourio connected on a fastball for a 5-4 lead.
Hoskins homered in the first, stopping an 0-for-11 slide, and added an RBI single in a four-run sixth that built a 9-4 advantage.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Dylan Carlson (left shoulder sprain) says he hopes to take batting practice on the field Tuesday. Carlson injured himself colliding with Jordan Walker in the outfield in a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs on March 25.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray (2-0, 0.00 ERA) will face Brewers RHP Colin Rea (2-0, 2.70 ERA) on Sunday. Milwaukee is seeking its first series sweep of the Cardinals since taking three straight from Sept. 24-26, 2018, in St. Louis.
The first pitch at Busch Stadium is scheduled for 1:15. Sunday’s game can be heard on KTLO-AM. The broadcast begins at 12:20 with Ameren Total Access.
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