Rested Lohse leads Cardinals past Brewers 4-2

[September 07, 2011]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Kyle Lohse leads the St. Louis Cardinals with 13 victories after silencing the Milwaukee Brewers' runaway express.

He'll be ready for his next start, whenever that is.

Lohse threw six scoreless innings on eight days' rest and the Cardinals got home runs from Jon Jay and Matt Holliday in the third, slicing into the Brewers' formidable NL Central lead with a 4-2 victory Tuesday night.

"I think I said about a month ago when I started getting moved around and skipped, I'd take the ball when Tony (La Russa) says it's my turn and go as long as I can until he says that's enough," Lohse said. "I try not to worry about all the other stuff, because then you're going to be distracted. I try not to get upset."

The Brewers thought wind blowing in from center robbed them of three homers against Lohse. But they didn't get upset, either.

"The elements played their part," said Nyjer Morgan, who had three hits. "It's all good. we'll come back tomorrow and bring it to them."

Lohse (13-8) gave up four hits, struck out six and walked three. He was pushed back two days behind Chris Carpenter and Jake Westbrook after giving up four runs in five innings in a win against Pittsburgh in his last start.

"I don't think he enjoyed it and was upset because he got bumped," manager La Russa said. "But the difficulty today was that he was pitching against a good team and he did great."

La Russa left shortly after the game to catch a Santana concert.

Yovani Gallardo (15-10) gave up three runs in six innings, and has allowed six home runs in 10 2-3 innings over his last two starts, both losses to the Cardinals. He gave up only three his previous seven starts combined.

Gallardo dropped to 1-7 with a 5.66 ERA for his career against the Cardinals, the lone victory on May 7 in St. Louis when he took a no-hitter into the eighth of a 4-0 victory.

"Good or bad, you don't look at those things," Gallardo said. "Every game's a different game, every start's a different start. You've just got to go out there and give your team a chance to win."

Jonathan Lucroy had an RBI double in the eighth for the Brewers, who lead the Central by 9 1/2 games with 19 to play after their four-game winning streak was snapped. Corey Hart extended his hitting streak to 18 games for Milwaukee, which is a major-league best 40-16 since July 6 -- with six of the losses against the Cardinals.

Hart flied out twice to the warning track in center and Ryan Braun also flied out to the track in center in the fifth, all against Lohse.

"Oh yeah, we would have had a lot of runs if we were in our ballpark," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Braunie really crushed his, but then again Holliday hammered his ball, too. The elements sometimes work against you."

Jason Motte allowed three hits and Prince Fielder's RBI single in the ninth before earning his third save in six chances in a September shot at closing. The run ended a streak of 21 consecutive scoreless appearances for Motte, and also was the first earned run he allowed in 34 appearances since June 24. Fernando Salas, who has 23 saves in 28 chances, got the first two outs in the seventh.

"I'm sorry it's over, but kind of glad," Motte said. "I don't have to worry about you guys coming up and asking me about it every day."

Lance Berkman, who struck out three times against Gallardo the last meeting, gave the Cardinals the lead with an RBI in the first -- also his 100th career RBI against the Brewers. Jay hit his 10th homer with one out in the third and Holliday hit his 22nd just inside the right-field foul pole with two outs.

"The home run to Jay, that ball is far in off the plate. I threw the pitch where I wanted to and he turned on it," Gallardo said. On Holliday's homer: "That ball was up. He goes that way pretty good and put a pretty good swing on it."

The Cardinals had three straight singles off Kameron Loe with one out the seventh with Jay getting the RBI before Albert Pujols hit into his major-league leading 26th double play. The Cardinals lead the majors with 151 -- 15 shy of the major league record held by the 1958 Cardinals.

NOTES: Zack Greinke (14-5) opposes Chris Carpenter (8-9) in the finale of a three-game series. Carpenter is 5-6 with a 5.05 ERA in 14 career starts against Milwaukee and is 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA in three starts this year. ... Pujols has one more double play ball than Boston's Adrian Gonzalez. Holliday and Yadier Molina are in a three-way tie for second in the NL along with Atlanta's Alex Gonzalez. The double play all was Pujols' first in 28 games. ... Lohse beat the Brewers for the first time in four decisions at home. ... Hart doubled to lead off the game and singled to start the ninth and is batting .359 (28-for-78) with five homers and nine RBIs. ... Brewers rookie Taylor Green is 4-for-4 as a pinch hitter after singling in the eighth. ...

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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