Cardinals rout Brewers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jon Jay and Skip Schumaker each had three RBI as the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Milwaukee Brewers, 13-1, in the opener of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.
Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter knocked in two runs apiece as the Cardinals earned their second straight win.
Jake Westbrook (3-1) allowed one run on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts over seven innings to earn the victory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's always good to win ballgames. We've strung together some here and that's what we want to do. I think we're playing with a lot of confidence," said Westbrook.
Yovani Gallardo (1-2) was touched for eight runs on eight hits and two walks through just two-plus innings for Milwaukee, which lost for the fifth time in eight games.
"I've been throwing the ball good and to have a game like this is very frustrating," Gallardo said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Milwaukee opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with three straight one-out singles by Nyjer Morgan, Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez to bring home Morgan and place runners at the corners.
Corey Hart, though, followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play to keep it a one-run game.
David Freese and Yadier Molina then started the second with back-to-back singles and after Freese was retired at third on a fielder's choice off the bat of Carpenter, Schumaker's triple to left-center field plated Molina and Carpenter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Schumaker would be stranded at third as Westbrook hit a grounder back to the mound and Rafael Furcal went down swinging.
The Cardinals then blew the game open with an eight-run third inning.
After Jay led off with a base hit to left and Holliday worked a walk, Carlos Beltran and Freese followed with consecutive RBI singles. Molina was then given a free pass to load the bases before Carpenter brought home Beltran and Freese with a double to knock Gallardo out of the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But reliever Mike McClendon didn't fare much better, allowing a run-scoring single to Schumaker and then walking Furcal after Westbrook's sacrifice bunt to fill the bags again. Jay followed with a two-run single and Holliday added a base hit to center to score Furcal.
Beltran's inning-ending double play on a liner to second where Jay was doubled off at second mercifully ended the inning as St. Louis took a 10-1 lead.
Jay and Holliday slapped back-to-back RBI singles off McClendon in the fifth inning and Molina hit an RBI double in the eighth to complete the rout.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After the first inning, the Brewers didn't place a runner on second base until the fifth when Alex Gonzalez was hit by a pitch before Jonathan Lucroy singled to left. But McClendon struck out on a missed bunt and Rickie Weeks went down swinging to end the threat.
Ramirez's two-out double in the sixth was the only other time Milwaukee put a runner in scoring position.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gallardo fell to 1-9 in 12 career starts against the Cardinals...The Brewers went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base, while St. Louis went 9-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.