Peralta, Piscotty power Cardinals past Brewers 7-3
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ST. LOUIS -- Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Piscotty hit back-to-back homers and combined for seven RBIs to power the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night.
St. Louis has won five straight and holds a four-game lead over Pittsburgh for the NL Central lead.
The Cardinals trailed 3-0 in the fourth when Peralta hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers, and Piscotty followed two pitches later with a blast into the left-center seats. The homer by Peralta, St. Louis' cleanup hitter, was his first since Aug. 1.
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Piscotty added a two-run, two-out single off Taylor Jungmann (9-7) in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the seventh.
St. Louis, a major league-best 97-56, went 41 games over .500 for the first time.
Michael Wacha (17-6) worked five innings and allowed three runs, all in a 28-pitch first inning when he gave up three hits and walked two. Rookie Jason Rogers singled in Milwaukee's first run, and Hernan Perez drove in two with an opposite-field double grounded just fair down the right field line.
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Five Cardinals relievers limited the Brewers to three singles over the final four innings.
In his first career start, Brewers SS Yadiel Rivera grounded a single to left on the 11th pitch he saw in the first inning for his first career hit.
TRAINER'S ROOM
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Brewers: C Jonathan Lucroy (concussion), out of the lineup since Sept. 8, singled in an eighth-inning pinch-hit appearance and stayed in to play first base. Lucroy is not expected to catch again this year, manager Craig Counsell said.
Cardinals: LF Matt Holliday (quad) is being eased into his return from an eight-week stint on the disabled list. After going 1 for 3 Wednesday in his first start since July 29, Holliday was not in the lineup.