Scrappy Looper avoids Fielder and leads Cards past Brewers

[April 16, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Braden Looper pitched around Prince Fielder and limited the rest of a Milwaukee Brewers' lineup without Ryan Braun to three hits in five innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory Tuesday night.

Skip Schumaker had two hits and two RBIs and Adam Kennedy was 3-for-4 with an RBI for the surprising Cardinals, who lead the NL Central with a 10-4 record. Chris Duncan also had an RBI and Kennedy added a heads-up baserunning play, going from first to third on a groundout and then scoring an insurance run in the seventh.

The Cardinals prevailed in a unique game that featured both pitchers batting eighth, for different reasons. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa anchors his lineup with singles hitters, giving him a pair of leadoff types after the first time through the lineup to give Albert Pujols more RBI opportunities. Brewers manager Ned Yost does it with catcher Jason Kendall to cut down on double plays at the bottom of the order.

Yost's strategy didn't work this time, with pitcher Dave Bush grounding out to end the second and striking out to end the fourth, each time with two runners on, while Kendall was 0-for-3. Milwaukee also left two on in the sixth, the big outs coming on Bill Hall's second double-play ball of the game.

Cardinals ninth-place hitter Cesar Izturis had a two-run single in a three-run eighth, giving him three RBIs on the year.

Looper (3-0) tied his high with five walks since moving into the rotation last season, including Fielder all three times. Fielder is 3-for-6 with a homer and seven walks against the right-hander and batted .300 with five homers and 14 RBIs against St. Louis last season.

Corey Hart had two hits with an RBI single in the fourth for the Brewers, who had totaled 14 runs in a pair of victories prior to Tuesday. Fielder, who is in a 2-for-23 slump, drew a career-high fourth walk in the eighth.

Bush (0-3) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings in the strongest of his three starts. But he has a 7.02 ERA and is in danger of losing his rotation spot with Yovani Gallardo due to come off the 15-day disabled list this weekend.

Braun, the NL rookie of the year mired in a 3-for-25 slump and batting .226, got a day off. The Brewers also were without .423-hitting Gabe Kapler, a late scratch with a bruised right shoulder.

Two-out hits in the first by Pujols and Rick Ankiel put runners on the corners, and Pujols scored on a wild pitch to put the Cardinals ahead. Schumaker and Duncan had consecutive RBI singles with two outs in the fifth for a 3-1 cushion.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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