Brewers offense sets its season high for runs scored in an Easter Sunday win over St. Louis

A day after its slumbering offense only had two plate appearances with a runner in scoring position all game, the Milwaukee Brewers peppered the American Family Field diamond with baserunners early and often Sunday.

While they couldn’t deliver a swift knockout punch, timely hits by Rowdy Tellez and Tyrone Taylor helped the Brewers escape some late-inning scares for a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee set a season-high for runs in a game, doing most of its damage against Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson.

Hudson walked the first three Brewers batters of the game and each one came around to score as Milwaukee jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Andrew McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly, Tellez lined an RBI double and Christian Yelich later scored thanks to an error.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Cardinals 5

Aaron Ashby, making his first start of the season, pitched four innings and allowed three unearned runs.

Josh Hader picked up his 100th career save, also his fourth of the season and third in a one-run game.

All three tallies came on an Albert Pujols homer with two outs in the third, his first blast against the Brewers since 2011.

Ashby battled with his command at times, walking four, including two in the first as he loaded the bases with one out before striking out Pujols and Tommy Edman. The elevated pitch count in the inning – 34 pitches – helped lead to the shortened outing.

Jake Cousins, Jandel Gustave and Brad Boxberger all threw scoreless innings in relief for the Brewers.

Manager Craig Counsell handed the ball to Devin Williams, who struggled for the third consecutive outing. With Williams on the mound, the lead shrunk from 6-3 to 6-5 as he walked three batters and gave up two hits and two runs. He was pulled with two outs and the bases loaded for Trevor Gott, who induced a Dylan Carlson grounder to escape the inning.

The Brewers broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth when Willy Adames drew a bases loaded walk to score Keston Hiura.

They tacked on a pair of critical insurance runs three innings later against Cardinals reliever Drew VerHagen. Milwaukee had Yelich on third and McCutchen on second with nobody out and ultimately loaded the bases after an intentional walk of catcher Omar Narvaez, but didn't score until centerfielder Tyrone Taylor's two-out double bumped the lead to 6-3.

The Brewers offense put 15 men on base between seven hits, seven walks and a hit batter. The early-season theme of struggling to get hits with runners in scoring position continued as they went 2-for-12, but scored three times without the benefit of a hit.

Taylor's double in the seventh was Milwaukee's first hit with the bases loaded of the season in its ninth plate appearance.

Hader pitched a clean ninth, striking out O'Neill and Nolan Arenado to punctuate the victory.

With the win, Milwaukee salvaged a series split and improved to 5-5.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers' offense strong in Easter Sunday win over Cardinals