Braun leads Brew Crew past Cards

Baseball Betting Lines

05/11/2008 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun's fourth career multi-homer game helped the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the third of a four-game set at Miller Park.

Jeff Suppan (2-2) gave up one run on six hits with four strikeouts and a season-high five walks in seven innings to record the win.

"They (Cardinals) are a very discipline, offensive team," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "They very seldom swing at pitches outside the strike zone. They are a very powerful, potent offensive team. They took a lot of close pitches, but he (Suppan) never gave in. He got us through seven innings."

J.J. Hardy went 3-for-4 with a run batted in for Milwaukee, which has won two of three on the heels of a six-game skid. Corey Hart was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Braden Looper (5-2) gave up four runs on seven hits over six innings to absorb the loss.

Ryan Ludwick clubbed his eighth home run of the season for the Cardinals, who have dropped four of their last five games. Chris Duncan and Troy Glaus both went 2-for-3 at the plate, with Duncan driving in a run.

"I think when you look at the whole deal, it just wasn't a crisp game," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.

The Brewers got on the board in the bottom of the first. Looper found himself in trouble right out of the chute, drilling Rickie Weeks and issuing a free pass to Tony Gwynn to put the first two men on base. Weeks advanced to third on a deep fly ball from Braun and came home when Prince Fielder hit a sacrifice fly. Hart then hooked a two-out, RBI double down the left-field line to give the host team a 2-0 lead.

A two-out, RBI single by Duncan in the top of the third cut the deficit in half, but Milwaukee got the run back in the next frame on Braun's sixth home run of the season. Braun, swinging a pink pat for Mother's Day, added another solo shot in the fifth to widen the Brewers advantage to 4-1.

Players throughout the Majors used the pink Louisville Slugger bats to help bring greater awareness about the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Many of the game-used bats will be signed and auctioned off to help raise money in hopes of finding a cure.

Ludwick's solo home run in the eighth made it a 4-2 game, but the Brewers answered in the bottom half on Hardy's RBI double.

Before the game, the Brewers announced that Eric Gagne will be temporarily removed from the closer's role. Salomon Torres started the ninth and gave up a leadoff double to Glaus. The ball looked to be a home run and Hart nearly made a spectacular catch, but the ball popped out his glove.

After Aaron Miles lined out, Glaus advanced to third on a groundout by pinch- hitter Brendan Ryan. Cesar Izturis drew a walk and Brian Shouse was brought into the game to face the left-handed swinging Skip Schumaker. Yadier Molina entered the game as a pinch-hitter and lined an RBI single to right field. Shouse then retired Adam Kennedy on a ground out to notch his first save of the season.

Game Notes

Milwaukee pitcher Yovani Gallardo will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair the torn ACL in his right knee. The surgery will be performed at the Froedtert Medical Center by Dr. William Raasch...The Cardinals Albert Pujols was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. The All-Star first baseman has reached base safely in all 39 games this season. Albert's streak is the best to begin a season since 1999 when Derek Jeter had a 53-game streak...Shouse's last save came on June 15, 2007 at Minnesota...St. Louis' Adam Wainwright (3-1) and Milwaukee's Dave Bush (0-4) are scheduled to start the series finale on Monday...Attendance was 41,197.