Brewers fall 10-1 in Cardinals' home opener

ST. LOUIS -- Taylor Jungmann had a tough time in spring training, going 1-3 with a 5.71 ERA. His year got worse Monday.

"Just a day where if I missed any spot they took advantage of it, they really did," the Milwaukee Brewers potch said after allowing eight runs in a 10-1 loss in the St. Louis Cardinals' home opener. "It wasn't just a base hit. They were squaring stuff up."

Jungmann faced 15 hitters and gave up eight hits, seven for extra bases, in two-plus innings. He was gone after Stephen Piscotty doubled, Randal Grichuk walked and Yadier Molina hit an RBI double to open the third.

"He made some mistakes and they were definitely all over him," catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "They did not miss any mistakes he made. One of those days."

The right-hander is 0-1 with an 11.57 ERA after two starts. He's 0-2 against St. Louis, allowing 14 runs and 14 hits in seven innings.

"When people hit me like that, I know my ball is a little flat," Jungmann said. "A lot of 0-1, 0-2 counts -- I just wasn't putting them away."

Most everything he threw looked good to the St. Louis hitters.

"They hit fastballs. They hit breaking balls. They hit inside fastballs. They hit outside fastballs," Jungmann said.

Michael Wacha had a nine-run cushion after three innings and allowed four hits in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals had 10 extra-base hits.

"You've just got to stay with that same mentality, just trying to get back in the dugout as quick as possible," Wacha said. "The most important thing is having those shutdown innings, getting back in the dugout so we can score some more runs."

Jeremy Hazelbaker was 4 for 4 with a triple, double and sacrifice fly, lifting his average to .526, and fellow rookie Almedys Diaz had two doubles and raised his average to .533.

Yadier Molina had three hits, two RBIs and an uncontested steal in second. Randal Grichuk drove in his first run of the season with a double.

Hall of Famer Lou Brock threw a strike to former teammate Ted Simmons on the ceremonial first pitch from halfway between the mound and the plate. The former base-stealing champ's left leg was amputated below the knee in October, and he wears a prostheses.

Matt Carpenter added two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who have scored 10 or more runs in three straight games for the first time since 1980 and have won four in a row overall. They set a franchise record with 19 hits in the opener, one more than against the Pirates on April 5, 1974.

Chris Carter hit his third homer and Ryan Braun had two hits for Milwaukee, which has lost two of three.

Wacha (1-0) struck out seven and walked one, and gave up just four singles. In his first start of the year, he allowed four runs in 4 1-3 innings at Pittsburgh.

APRIL

Wacha is 7-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 12 career April starts, his most victories of any month. He's 3-0 against the Brewers.

NICE GLOVE

Hazelbaker made a diving catch in the left-center gap to rob Carter of extra bases in the second.

BIG HOUSE

Attendance of 47,608 in 57-degree weather trails only a crowd of 47,875 for opening day last season.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (left thumb) has improved and is wearing a splint instead of a cast, and has been rehabbing in St. Louis. He's still likely out a few more months.

UP NEXT

Both teams have a day off Tuesday. On Wednesday night, Mike Leake (0-1, 8.31) opposes Chase Anderson (1-0, 0.00). Leake didn't get out of the fifth his first start with St. Louis and Anderson worked five scoreless innings in his first start with Milwaukee.