Cards try to slice into Brewers' NL Central lead

It may have been small and ultimately futile, but the Cardinals did put a dent in the Brewers' mighty armor.

With just five more meetings left between the two division rivals, St. Louis can't afford to give another game back tonight to National League Central- leading Milwaukee in the middle contest of a three-game series at Miller Park.

Having lost eight of their previous 12 meetings with the Brewers this year, the Cardinals inched out a 2-1 victory in last night's opener. Starter Edwin Jackson drove in St. Louis' first run with a single in the fifth inning and Jon Jay followed with a sacrifice fly. Jackson then made it hold up by allowing only one run over his seven innings.

"Jackson was outstanding," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "He threw a lot more breaking balls. He really pitched today. He had a nice fastball and a nice slider."

The win pulled St. Louis to a still distant 9 1/2 games behind Milwaukee, which had the potential tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Fernando Salas got out of the situation to secure St. Louis' second consecutive win and fourth in five games.

Shaun Marcum was just as a good as Jackson, allowing two unearned runs on four hits and three walks. However, Milwaukee went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and the Brewers' 3-4-5 hitters -- Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee -- went 0-for-10 with a pair of walks.

Milwaukee fell to 21-6 in August as it needs to just one more win to surpass the 1978 club's record for the most victories in any single month, set in June of that year.

The Brewers lost for just the fourth time in their last 25 games at home, but will hope that Randy Wolf can secure a sixth straight winning decision tonight to get them back on track.

Wolf is 4-0 with a 3.09 earned run average in five starts this month and is coming off a win on Friday versus the Cubs. He pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs -- one earned -- on four hits and two walks.

"Our starting pitchers have really been keeping us in games," said Braun after that start. "Randy, again tonight, was phenomenal. He did a great job, kept us in it."

The 35-year-old southpaw is 11-8 with a 3.37 ERA on the season and as bested the Cardinals in back-to-back outings this month. Wolf gave up five runs over six innings at home in a 10-5 win at Aug. 3 and seven days later he hurled eight innings of one-run ball in St. Louis to notch a 5-1 win.

Those victories have evened Wolf's career numbers against the Cards at 7-7 to go along with a 3.80 ERA in 17 starts.

The Cardinals counter with Jake Westbrook, who is 10-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 27 games this year. That includes solid numbers at home, where he is 7-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 14 outings.

The right-hander halted a three-decision losing streak on Aug. 21 with a win at Chicago, but did not get a decision last time out on Friday versus the Pirates. Westbrook was charged with four runs on seven hits and five walks over six-plus innings.

The 33-year-old lost to the Brewers and Wolf on Aug. 10 after allowing three runs over eight innings. He is 0-2 with a 3.00 ERA in four career starts versus Milwaukee.