ST. LOUIS –The Cardinals’ team-record 17-game winning streak ended when Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer that backed starting pitcher Adrian Houser and led the Milwaukee Brewers over St. Louis 4-0 on Wednesday night.
St. Louis was given a standing ovation after the defeat by the crowd of 35,283. The streak, the longest in the major leagues since Cleveland won 22 straight in 2017, lifted the Cardinals into next week’s NL wild-card game against the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco.
The Cardinals were 71-69 after losing to Cincinnati 6-4 on Sept. 10, their previous defeat. St. Louis is 21-7 in September, tying the 1930 and 1942 Cardinals for most wins in the month.
Wednesday night marked just the third time since 1900 that a winning streak of 17 or more games ended with a shutout loss, according to ESPN Stats & Information research; the A’s 20-game win streak in 2002 and the Yankees’ 19-game streak in 1947 were the others.
Manny Pina added a solo homer for the NL Central champion Brewers, who have won four of five.
A night after clinching a postseason berth, the Cardinals did not start regulars Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill and Tommy Edman.
Houser (10-6) allowed three hits in five innings. He has given up one earned run or none in four of his last five starts. Brent Suter, Brad Boxberger and Aaron Ashby finished a three-hitter.
Vogelbach homered in the sixth off Miles Mikolas (2-3), who allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.