Cardinals 2 - 6 Brewers
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Cards' Lackey tries to extend Brewers' skid

Sep 5, 2014 - 3:11 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Cardinals acquired John Lackey for the stretch run toward the playoffs and hope he can keep them in the driver's seat of the NL Central Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second test of a four-game series at Miller Park.

Lackey is 2-1 with a 4.23 earned run average in six starts with the Cardinals since coming over in a trade with the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals have won each of Lackey's last four starts and the veteran right-hander did not post a decision in Sunday's 9-6 win over the Chicago Cubs, as he was reached for five runs -- two earned -- and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Lackey has won both of his career starts against the Brewers and defeated them in his St. Louis debut on Aug. 3, when he allowed two runs in seven innings of a 3-2 victory. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in five of his six starts since joining the Cardinals.

The Cardinals keep their foot on the proverbial gas pedal with Thursday's 3-2 win over the Brewers and were led by Yadier Molina's two RBI and three hits apiece from Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter. Kolten Wong's RBI single in the third inning gave St. Louis a 3-1 lead and the club held on for its sixth straight win and pushed its lead atop the NL Central to four games ahead of Milwaukee and 5 1/2 ahead of Pittsburgh.

Winning pitcher Marco Gonzales allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings of relief of Michael Wacha, who returned to the mound for the first time since June 17 because of a shoulder issue. Wacha surrendered one run on three hits and a walk while striking out three in his 50-pitch, three-inning outing.

"I was very happy with it. It was great to get back on the mound and into a game," said Wacha.

Milwaukee's losing streak reached a season-high nine games and the start of an 11-game homestand didn't go quite as planned. Wily Peralta continued to struggle on the mound and gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.

Rickie Weeks homered and Gerardo Parra recorded three hits in the loss.

"We hit a lot of balls hard and they made a lot of nice plays," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "That was a good ball game."

The Brewers, who are even with Atlanta for the second wild card berth in the National League, hope to have slugging outfielder Ryan Braun back after he missed some time due to the birth of his first child. Also, outfielder Carlos Gomez is dealing with a wrist injury and his status for Friday is uncertain.

Mike Fiers will try to turn things around when he takes the mound for Milwaukee Friday. Fiers is 4-2 with a 1.93 earned run average and had a personal four-game winning streak cut short in Saturday's 3-1 loss at San Francisco, where he allowed all three runs -- a season-high -- in seven innings of work.

Fiers is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in four career games (2 starts) against the Cardinals. The right-hander will face St. Louis for the first time this season.

The Cardinals are 8-5 against the Brewers this season and have won three straight and six of the last eight matchups between the teams.






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