The Milwaukee Brewers concluded their five-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals with an 8-4 win at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Thursday.

With the victory, the Brewers take the series after having lost just one of the games. How did they get it done?

A resurgence of bats

In Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the Cardinals, the Brewers struck out more times than they hit the ball (nine strikeouts, seven hits). But on Thursday, they got their spark back with an 11-hit performance.

Milwaukee struck first in the top of the second after Jake Bauers hit a single and then advanced to second base following a wild pitch from Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante.

After Andrew Vaughn reached on a fielder’s choice in which Bauers juked out Jose Fermin to get to third base safely, the Brewers had runners on the corners for Sal Frelick.

Frelick hit a single to right field that scored Bauers and put Milwaukee on the board. Then, Cooper Pratt delivered an RBI single of his own to make it a 2-0 game.

In the top of the third inning, Milwaukee opened up the frame with consecutive singles by Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio. Brice Turang followed up with a third-straight single that scored Mitchell and gave the Brewers a three-run advantage.

Following a groundout from William Contreras, Bauers delivered in a big way with a three-run home run to right field. It was Bauers’ 17th blast of the season, and Milwaukee enjoyed a 6-0 lead at that point.

St. Louis responds

After the Brewers mounted a sizable advantage, the Cardinals began to wake up.

Milwaukee welcomed right-hander Logan Henderson back to the mound after he had not pitched in a major-league setting since May 22 due to a low back strain. Henderson had been solid in his return, but St. Louis got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning via a double by Alec Burleson and a single by Lars Nootbaar.

Henderson and the defense got out of the inning and kept the Cardinals off the board in the fifth, and in the bottom of the sixth, Henderson’s evening ended after he hit JJ Wetherholt with a pitch and allowed a walk.

In his first game back, Henderson pitched 5.1 innings and struck out four batters while allowing three hits, three earned runs and a walk.

With Henderson heading back to the dugout, Brewers manager Pat Murphy chose Chad Patrick to be the first reliever out of the bullpen, and the Cardinals made him pay in the form of a three-run homer by Jordan Walker. At that point, Milwaukee’s comfortable lead had diminished to 6-4.

However, the Brewers did not let go of the reins.

After the Cardinals' three-run sixth inning, Milwaukee got back on the board in emphatic fashion when Turang hit a leadoff solo home run to begin the seventh inning. The Brewers did not score again during the frame, but Patrick and the defense retired the St. Louis side in order during the bottom of the seventh.

Both teams went scoreless in the eighth, but Milwaukee added one more run to its lead when Chourio hit a lead-off double, which was followed by fly balls off the bats of Turang and Contreras that eventually got Chourio across home plate.

The Brewers finished their long series against their division rivals on a high note, and they are now just one victory away from the 60-win mark. They will visit the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday to begin a three-game set ahead of the All-Star break.

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