Wainwright's arm, bat lead Cardinals over Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) is congratulated by catcher Yadier Molina after throwing a complete baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 6-1.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) is congratulated by catcher Yadier Molina after throwing a complete baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 6-1.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Adam Wainwright pitched a five-hitter and also contributed at the plate, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 Saturday night.

Wainwright (9-10) moved closer to .500 after starting the season at 0-3. He threw 73 of 98 pitches for strikes, walking none and fanning seven.

All of Wainwright's strikeouts came during a stretch between the third and seventh innings when he retired 13 batters in a row. The complete game was his second of the season and 10th of his career.

Wainwright also hit an RBI double and a single, and he scored a run.

Carlos Beltran hit his 25th homer, giving him an NL-leading 77 RBIs. Jon Jay also homered for the Cardinals and Yadier Molina added a two-run single.

Ryan Braun drove in the Brewers' run with a sacrifice fly in the first.

After spotting the Brewers that 1-0 lead, St. Louis tied it when Beltran hit the first pitch from Mark Rogers (0-1) in the second just over the right-field wall. The ball bounced off the stands and back on to the field, and Beltran initially had to stop at third. After a one-minute review by the umpires, Beltran was awarded home.

The Cardinals broke it open by scoring four times in the third.

Daniel Descalso and Wainwright led off with doubles and Allen Craig had an RBI single. Molina's two-out single made it 5-1.

NOTES: The Cardinals honored members of 1982 World Series championship clubs before the game and both teams wore retro jerseys. St. Louis defeated Milwaukee, then an American League team, in seven games in the Series that year. ... Brewers 3B Aramis Ramirez, who had a cortisone shot in his sore left wrist Thursday, was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game. . . . Marco Estrada will face the Cardinals' Kyle Lohse in the series finale Sunday. . . . Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia went 4 1-3 innings and allowed two hits and one run while striking out six in a rehab assignment for Double-A Springfield on Saturday night.

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