Hitless through seven innings, Brewers rally in eighth to beat Cardinals 2-1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Held without a hit through seven innings, the Milwaukee Brewers broke through in the eighth with three hits and two runs to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Wednesday.

Dustin May carried a no-hitter into the eighth for the Cardinals, who have lost seven of nine games. May was looking to become just the third pitcher in the history of American Family Field, which opened in 2001, to pitch a no-hitter.

Garrett Mitchell led off the eighth with a double and Luis Rengifo followed with a single, chasing May (3-6). After Sal Frelick grounded into a fielder’s choice and pinch-hitter Andrew Vaughn struck out looking, Christian Yelich singled to drive in Mitchell to tie the score, with Frelick moving to third. Frelick then scored when Masyn Winn booted Jackson Chourio’s grounder.

The Cardinals got on the board in the fourth against Brewers starter Chad Patrick when Jordan Walker led off with a single and later scored on Bryan Torres’ triple.

The Brewers, who hold the top spot in the NL Central, have won 15 of their last 19 games.

Patrick gave up five hits and one run in four innings while walking one and striking out four.

Shane Drohan, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined for five scoreless innings.

Ashby (9-0) took over the major league lead in wins and Megill recorded his sixth save in seven tries.

May, who came in with an ERA of 5.00, gave up two hits and two runs (one earned) in seven innings. He struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter in the hard-luck 87-pitch outing.

Cardinals: RHP Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.44 ERA) takes the mound in the opener of a three-game series against the Cubs in St. Louis on Friday.

Brewers: RHP Coleman Crow (0-0, 2.61 ERA) gets the start on Friday as the Brewers open a three-game series at Houston.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell high-fives teammates after scoring on an RBI single hit by Christian Yelich during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers shortstop David Hamilton throws out St. Louis Cardinals' Masyn Winn during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dustin May throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill (29) hugs William Contreras (24) after winning against the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers' Garrett Mitchell, left, douses Christian Yelich (22) after winning against the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Less than six months ago, the inauguration of centrist President Rodrigo Paz seemed to usher in a new reality for Bolivians reeling from the worst economic crisis in a generation and fed up with two decades of almost uninterrupted socialist leadership.

Long lines at gas stations vanished as pro-business Paz secured fuel imports. Bolivia's chronically depreciating currency surged on the black market as stock markets swooned over his plan to shrink the budget deficit. After years of diplomatic isolation, Bolivians took pride in the dozens of international delegations that celebrated Paz's swearing-in as he repaired strained relations with the United States and regional powers.

Now, that optimism has been replaced by dread as violent protests shake the government of the Trump administration ally. Demonstrators wielding dynamite have blockaded major cities, leading to shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies. Indigenous and rural Bolivians who backed Paz's campaign promises to upend the status quo while protecting social welfare have called on him to step down.

Here are five things to know about the protests roiling Bolivia, as Paz threatened Wednesday to declare a state of emergency that could pave the way for a harsh security crackdown.

“If they do not want dialogue ... then there is no other way,” he said of the protesters in a national address Wednesday, while insisting that he preferred to negotiate. “We have deaths because of the blockades. Someone has to answer for that.”

Former supporters of Bolivia's long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism party, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, who helped vault Paz to power, have increasingly voiced concern that his government doesn't represent them.

Shortly after entering office, Paz struck deals with right-wing parties in Congress. He shut out the populist vice president widely seen as responsible for his electoral success.

He named no members of Bolivia’s Indigenous majority to high-level posts. He supported a land reform bill to boost agribusiness that Indigenous farmers said put them at risk of eviction. He scrapped fuel subsidies, sending prices surging by nearly 90%. Motorists complained the gasoline was contaminated and ruined their cars.

To blunt the blow of price hikes from the Iran war, Paz offered cash transfers to vulnerable families. He hiked the minimum wage 20%. He repealed the controversial land law. But he also rebuffed demands for further salary increases, infuriating the national labor union.

“It's not that from one day to the next he was asked to resign,” said Mirian Huarina, a protest leader. “He had time to provide a solution to these problems and to the demands of different social sectors.”

By a quirk of geography, barriers thrown up along the slopes leading down to Bolivia's seat of government, La Paz, can completely isolate more than 1.6 million residents of the city and its surroundings, or over 13% of the country's population.

Indigenous movements have long deployed the siege strategy, popularized during a late-18th-century rebellion against Spanish colonialism.

In 2003 and 2005, demonstrators blockading La Paz in protest over foreign designs on their country's natural gas reserves toppled two consecutive pro-Western governments, paving the way for the rise of former President Evo Morales, founder of MAS.

As road blocks strangling La Paz enter their fourth week, thousands of trucks loaded with food and other essentials, like oxygen supplies for hospitals, remain stranded on highways. Beef, eggs and fruit have vanished from supermarket shelves. Subsidized chicken is being flown into La Paz via military aircraft. The government says at least four people have died for lack of medical care; hospitals are still operating, but staff are rationing supplies and focusing on critical cases.

Shop owners and transport workers opposed to the protests are ramping up pressure on Paz to reopen the roads at any cost. Banging empty pots as they marched downtown on Tuesday, they chanted, "We want solutions! We can't take it anymore!”

Although security forces have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and arrested over 120 people, Paz has so far resisted calls to deploy greater force to break the blockades. Cognizant that the deaths of protesters at the hands of police may only inflame tensions, Paz has insisted on dialogue as the best way out of the crisis.

Paz has offered bonuses to teachers, reached agreements with some protesting miners and convened a council on Wednesday to include underrepresented social sectors in economic decision-making. He slashed his own salary in half, fired his unpopular labor minister and appointed a lawyer from the country's Indigenous majority to the post.

Calls are growing for Paz to impose a state of emergency, which would put the military in charge of restoring public order for 60 days. After Congress passed a law lifting restrictions on the army’s role in quelling civil unrest late Tuesday, Paz now has the constitutional authority to invoke this power. He has described it as an option of last resort.

Morales, the former union leader who became Bolivia’s first Indigenous president in 2006 and ruled for an unprecedented 14 years, is calling for early elections.

“Paz only has two paths left: a suicidal decision like militarization or ... an election in the next 90 days," he wrote on X.

For almost two years now, Morales has been hiding out in Bolivia's central coca-growing Chapare region, evading an arrest warrant on human trafficking charges relating to having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He rejects the allegations as politically motivated.

Some of the unions and Indigenous groups rallying against Paz are allied with Morales, whose attempts to hold onto power longer than the constitution allowed alienated much of his once-vast base and led to his fraught 2019 ouster.

Morales' loyalists — hardened protesters from the coca-growing unions — joined the protest movement last week to demand Paz step down.

Paz's government has accused Morales of funding the demonstrations, which he denies.

Trump-allied governments that recently swept to power across Latin America — from Argentina and Chile to Honduras and Costa Rica — have pledged their support for Paz and denounced the protests as destabilizing.

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia — among the few leftist leaders still in power in the region — defended the protests as a “struggle for Latin American dignity." Bolivia expelled the Colombian ambassador in response.

The United States has struck a hard line, characterizing the demonstrations as a coup attempt.

“We will not allow criminals and drug traffickers to overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week.

The U.S. Embassy in La Paz said it was closing Wednesday and Thursday due to the unrest.

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Vendors hold signs reading in Spanish, "La Paz wants peace and work," during a march against protesters who were blocking access to the city, in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Demonstrators shout slogans during an anti-government protest in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Vendors shout slogans during a march against protesters who are blocking access to the city, in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)