It was just a little more than three weeks ago when the Milwaukee Brewers not only considered themselves a player in the National League wild card race, but a contender in the NL Central because of the slumping St. Louis Cardinals.
When the teams met Monday night at Miller Park, it was the Brewers who were anticipating a merciful end to a disappointing season and the Cardinals who were looking to get settled after sputtering for much of the second half as they head back to the NL playoffs.
It was Tony Graffanino who delivered the mercy this time, a run-scoring single to left off Braden Looper (9-2) that scored pinch-runner Drew Anderson and provided a 4-3 victory. It was Graffanino's third hit of the game.
The Brewers are now 6-17 since that Aug. 24 afternoon when a victory over Colorado closed the gap to within 4.5 games of the Cardinals, who are 13-9 in that same span. The Brewers are 12 games behind the Cardinals, who nonetheless maintained their comfortable seven-game lead over second-place Cincinnati with 14 games to play.
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