Ludwick leads Cardinals' rally against Brewers

[August 28, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Ryan Ludwick lacked a triple for the cycle and had two RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals' comeback from a three-run deficit in a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

Rebounding from a 12-0 rout Tuesday, the Cardinals scored four runs in the eighth inning and pulled within 3 1/2 games of the Brewers for the NL wild-card lead. That's where they were starting a two-game series that was their final shot against Milwaukee.

The Brewers took the season series 10-5 and had won seven in a row against the Cardinals before Wednesday.

The Cardinals were held to four hits in the first five innings and had a scoreless streak of 16 innings, all but two against the Brewers, before Ludwick's 32nd homer off Manny Parra in the sixth.

They left the bases loaded in the seventh when Joe Mather fouled out against Carlos Villanueva, whose raised-arms celebration in the direction of the St. Louis dugout may have served as inspiration.

Albert Pujols, who took a few menacing steps in Villanueva's direction before being steered away by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, doubled off David Riske (1-2) to start the eighth and Ludwick followed with an RBI double.

Troy Glaus singled to the score and went to second on the throw home. After moving to third on a groundout, he slid in just ahead of catcher Jason Kendall's tag with the go-ahead run when shortstop J.J. Hardy short-hopped his throw to the plate on pinch hitter Aaron Miles' grounder against a drawn-in infield.

Ryan Franklin (5-5) worked a scoreless eighth with a walk and strikeout and rookie Chris Perez finished for his sixth save in seven chances with three strikeouts in the ninth, allowing only a one-out double to Hardy.

Hardy had three hits and an RBI for the Brewers, who had outscored the Cardinals 42-7 during their streak. Milwaukee is 58-6 when leading after seven innings and the Cardinals are 5-39 when trailing after seven.

The Cardinals' Adam Wainwright allowed three runs, two earned, and threw 89 pitches in his second start coming off the 15-day disabled list from a finger injury that sidelined him for two months. Parra allowed a run on six hits, departing after allowing a single to Yadier Molina to open the seventh.

In the third, the Brewers took a 1-0 lead on three infield hits and a Wainwright throwing error trying to get an out on one of them. They scored when Hardy barely beat out a slow roller to short after Cesar Izturis' barehand grab and throw.

Milwaukee opened the fourth with consecutive doubles by Corey Hart and Mike Cameron, and Jason Kendall added an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

Notes: Pujols was 2-for-4 and is batting .357, a point ahead of Atlanta's Chipper Jones in the NL batting race. ... Cardinals manager Tony La Russa's season-long strategy of batting the pitcher eighth backfired in the second when Molina and Nick Stavinoha singled with two outs and Wainwright grounded out for the third out.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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