Sheets helps Brewers win 12th straight over Cards

[August 27, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Ben Sheets worked six scoreless innings and Ryan Braun was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-0 on Tuesday night.

Prince Fielder had three hits and two RBIs for the Brewers, who have won seven straight over the Cardinals and are 10-4 overall heading into the season series finale on Wednesday. Craig Counsell doubled twice and had three hits as the Brewers (77-55) moved 22 games above .500 for the first time since they were 92-70 at the end of the 1992 season.

The Brewers moved 4 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals for the wild card berth and remained five games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.

Sheets (12-7) beat the Cardinals for the sixth time in 20 career decisions, allowing five hits and retiring his final eight hitters. He beat them for the first time overall since May 1, 2007, and first time on the road since Oct. 2, 2004, although he's 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA against St. Louis in three starts this season.

Braun is batting .491 with seven homers and 13 RBIs against the Cardinals this season and is a .434 career hitter against St. Louis. He is 6-for-8 against St. Louis starter Todd Wellemeyer (11-5).

Albert Pujols of the Cardinals was 0-for-3 with a walk, his average dipping to .356. He was one point behind Chipper Jones, who went 1-for-5 for Atlanta, in the race for the batting title.

Despite the wild card implications, the announced attendance of 41,121 was about 3,000 shy of capacity. This after the Cardinals had offered half-price tickets to stlcardinals.com subscribers and free tickets to season ticket-holders with $1 face value in an attempt to paper the house.

The Cardinals stranded two runners in the first, third and fourth. They squandered their best chance in the third with runners on first and third and one out when Pujols popped out to shallow left and Rick Ankiel hit a broken-bat infield pop.

Three of the first four hitters singled against Wellemeyer, including Fielder's opposite-field flare that put the Brewers ahead. J.J. Hardy tripled to lead off the third and scored on Fielder's one-out groundout to make it 2-0.

Pujols' two-out throwing error at first base allowed another run to score in the fifth.

Wellemeyer came out for the seventh despite throwing 101 pitches and departed after a single by Hardy and Braun's 33rd homer made it 5-0.

The first six Brewers reached in a seven-run ninth highlighted by Jason Kendall's three-run double and a two-run homer by pinch-hitter Bill Hall.

Notes: Brewers 2B Ray Durham left with a right shoulder strain after six innings. It was unclear how he was injured. ... The Cardinals are the only team with a double-figure victory total against Sheets.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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