Cardinals' Oh Seung-hwan suffers 1st loss of season

By a2017001

Published : May 2, 2017 - 15:18 Updated : May 2, 2017 - 15:18

St. Louis Cardinals closer Oh Seung-hwan has suffered his first loss of the season, with his scoreless appearance streak coming to a halt at six.

The South Korean right-hander gave up three runs -- all of them unearned -- on two hits, including a home run, in 1 2/3 innings of work against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium on Monday (local time) in St. Louis. The Brewers won the game 7-5 in 10 innings, and Oh dropped to 1-1, to go along with six saves in 12 appearances.

Oh Seung-hwan of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts after giving up a three-run home run to Travis Shaw of the Milwaukee Brewers during their major league game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on May 1, 2017. (AP-Yonhap)

Oh entered the game in the top of the ninth with the score knotted at 4-4. He worked around a two-out single by Keon Broxton to keep the Brewers off the board.

The Cardinals went down in order in the bottom ninth, and the Brewers got three runs off Oh in the top of the 10th to break the deadlock.

Hernan Perez reached on a throwing error by second baseman Kolten Wong to start the 10th for the Brewers. After a sacrifice bunt, Oh intentionally walked Eric Thames, who is tied for the major league lead with 11 home runs.

Oh struck out the next batter, Domingo Santana, but then Travis Shaw launched a three-run home run to right-center field for a 7-4 lead.

The blast chased Oh from the game.

The Cardinals got a run back in the bottom 10th on Jedd Gyorko's leadoff home run, but Neftali Feliz sat down the next three batters in order for the save.

Because the three runs were all unearned, Oh's ERA actually went down from 4.50 to 3.95.

Oh hadn't given up a run in his past half-dozen outings, a stretch of 6 1/3 innings, shaving more than five runs off his ERA after a disastrous start to the season.

With Shaw's long ball, Oh has now allowed three home runs in 13 2/3 innings this season. He served up five homers in 79 2/3 innings all of last year and didn't give up his third until Aug. 2. (Yonhap)