ST. LOUIS — After they broke through in the sixth inning against Brewers starter Robert Gasser in efforts to avoid losing both games of a Tuesday doubleheader, the Cardinals’ first form of offense in the nightcap was met with an inning loud enough by Milwaukee that it not only helped regain the runs they lost but allowed them to run away with a win.

Trailing by 3-2 after Nelson Velazquez put the Cardinals in the runs column with a two-run homer off the lefty Gasser, the Cardinals surrendered seven runs in the seventh inning of a 10-2 loss at Busch Stadium. The seven-run inning began with a solo homer Joey Ortiz hit off Jared Shuster and included five more hits and two walks. The Brewers sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame that left Shuster with seven runs allowed in 1 1/3 innings in relief of starter Hunter Dobbins.

The seventh inning was finished by Gordon Graceffo, who was used to record two outs. Graceffo was removed at the start of the eighth inning and replaced by utilityman Bryan Torres.

Shuster entered with no outs in the sixth inning for Dobbins while the Cardinals trailed 3-0. Shuster was added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster and active roster ahead of the nightcap to give them an additional arm in relief after they used four relievers in Game 1. The crop of relievers used in Game 1 included JoJo Romero, Ryne Stanek, Matt Svanson and Justin Bruihl.

Before the Brewers leapt to a lead large enough for the Cardinals to use a position player to pitch the final two innings, the Cardinals (47-43) trailed after Dobbins allowed a run in the third inning and two in the fifth. The runs Dobbins gave up in the fifth inning came on a single from rookie Luis Lara. The hit and RBIs were the Brewers rookie's firsts in his big league debut.

Torres’ appearance to pitch in the eighth marked the first time this season the Cardinals used a position player to pitch in a regular season game.

Aside from Velazquez’s two-run homer off Gasser, the Cardinals could not muster much else offense versus the left-hander.

They had a runner reach base in each of the first three innings but could not advance them beyond first base in each instance. They went down in order in the fourth and fifth innings before a two-out single from Jordan Walker in the sixth put him on base for Velazquez to plate the Cardinals’ only two runs.

Crew responds with hard contacts

After receiving a swing from Velazquez that helped them cut their deficit from 3-0 to 3-2, the Cardinals saw a quick response from the Brewers lineup. The Cardinals saw the Brewers tally seven runs in the top of the seventh to jump out to an eight-run lead.

Plenty of hard contact was produced to do so.

Milwaukee’s responsive inning opened with Shuster allowing a homer Ortiz hit with a 104.8-mph exit velocity that would have been a homer in 29 of 30 MLB ballparks, per Statcast. (The only ballpark that would not have left would have been Coors Field.)

Shuster surrendered a double to Brice Turang that had a 104.2-mph exit velocity. Following a single from Andrew Vaughn that deflected off JJ Wetherholt’s glove, the hard contact continued with a single from Gary Sanchez that reached 99.4 mph and a single from Jackson Chourio that reached 107.7 mph.

The Cardinals removed Shuster from the lengthy inning after he threw 38 pitches.

A different look vs. Gasser

Following a finish to Game 1 of Tuesday’s doubleheader during which they were held scoreless for the final six innings, four of which were completed by starter Jacob Misiorowski, the Cardinals totaled four hits off Gasser in his 7 2/3 innings of work.

A Cardinals lineup that struck out 11 times facing the triple-digits arsenal of Misiorowski was held down by Gasser’s arsenal that included a fastball that averaged 92.7 mph and a sweeper that had a 33% whiff rate, per Statcast.

The left-hander coaxed seven groundouts and limited them to seven hard-hit balls on the 23 they put in play against him as he landed a first-pitch strike to begin 21 of the 29 batters who faced him. The 7 2/3 innings Gaser completed meant the Cardinals saw Brewers starters total 14 2/3 innings against them across the doubleheader.

Rookie Lara collects firsts off Dobbins

Dobbins came one out of away from leaving the bases loaded to end the fifth after striking out Christan Yelich, swinging, on six pitches. However, the attempt to escape the inning unharmed was spoiled by rookie Lara’s first hit in his big league debut.

Dobbins’ fifth inning became troublesome due to two walks that were wedged around a fly out and a single to Ortiz that loaded the bases for Yelich. The right-hander neutralized Yelich with a six-pitch sequence that featured four breaking balls and ended with a curveball that got the former National League MVP to whiff for strike three.

He worked ahead of Lara by firing a fastball for a strike that caught the high, inside corner of the strike zone but fell into a 3-1 count as two splitters and a slider missed the strike zone. The disadvantage count led Dobbins to go back to his fastball, which he placed near the bottom of the zone.

Lara grounded the fastball to right field for two runs and advanced to second on Walker’s throw to third base to give him his first hit and his first two RBIs a big leaguer.

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