MILWAUKEE -- Held without a hit through seven innings, the Milwaukee Brewers broke through in the eighth with three hits and two runs to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Wednesday.
Dustin May carried a no-hitter into the eighth for the Cardinals, who have lost seven of nine games. May was looking to become only the third pitcher in the history of American Family Field, which opened in 2001, to pitch a no-hitter.
"It's hard to not at least be a thought, but you try and push it out as much as possible," May said about entering the eighth inning. "At that point, you're just trying to win a ballgame. It's a 1-0 game, trying to go out and execute pitches outside of that."
Garrett Mitchell led off the eighth with a double and Luis Rengifo followed with a single, chasing May (3-6). After Sal Frelick grounded into a fielder's choice and pinch hitter Andrew Vaughn struck out looking, Christian Yelich singled to drive in Mitchell to tie the score, with Frelick moving to third. Frelick then scored when shortstop Masyn Winn booted Jackson Chourio's grounder.
"It's a game of 27 outs, so it really only takes one opportunity," Mitchell said. "Obviously, [May] was absolutely shoving. We just needed a little crack. Something to get rolling."
May, who came in with an ERA of 5.00, gave up two hits and two runs (one earned). He struck out nine and didn't walk a batter in a hard-luck outing in which he threw 87 pitches, 62 for strikes.
"Sucks I couldn't finish the job, getting through that eighth inning there, but it was definitely fun," May told reporters.
Until the eighth, the Brewers had no answer for May, who made it easy on the fielders behind him. One exception came when Winn made a spectacular diving stop of Frelick's grounder up the middle with two outs in the fifth. Wynn got to his feet and fired a throw to first base that Alec Burleson scooped to nip the speedy Frelick.
"[May] was electric. Gave us the best chance he could to win," Winn told reporters. "That was definitely fun to watch. That's the best I've seen him throw."
Only two Brewers players reached base before the eighth. Jake Bauers was hit by a pitch in the second and Frelick reached on catcher's interference in the third.
"You feel like you stole one," Yelich said. "It was a credit to our pitchers for keeping us in the game. We were only chasing one run. Even though things weren't really going good for us on offense, when you're only down one, anything can happen and it can change quick. We were fortunate to get some traffic in the eighth and do just enough."
The Cardinals got on the board in the fourth against Brewers starter Chad Patrick when Jordan Walker led off with a single and later scored on Bryan Torres' triple.
The Brewers, who hold the top spot in the National League Central, have won 15 of their past 19 games.
Patrick gave up five hits and one run in four innings while walking one and striking out four.
Shane Drohan, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined for five scoreless innings.
Ashby (9-0) took over the major league lead in wins, and Megill recorded his sixth save in seven tries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
