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Suppan, Fielder lead Brewers in opener of 10-game homestand

May 1, 2007 - 3:46 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Jeff Suppan continues to make the St. Louis Cardinals pay for letting him walk.

Suppan pitched his 16th career complete game and first in nearly four years and Prince Fielder doubled and homered as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cardinals, 7-1, on Monday in the opener of a 10-game homestand.

Kevin Mench added two hits and two RBI for Milwaukee, which plays four games with Pittsburgh and three with Washington after this three-game set.

On April 14, Suppan (4-2) beat the club he helped to the World Series title, allowing two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings, and was better this time around.

The righthander yielded eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts for his first complete game since July 28, 2003, to improve to 7-1 in 10 all-time starts at Miller Park.

"We really needed Suppan's complete game, with our bullpen as overworked as it is, it was big, really big, Brewers manager Ned Yost said.

The National League Championship Series MVP was allowed to become a free agent by St. Louis and signed a lucrative deal with Milwaukee.

"I'm not going to say it was easy, it's never easy," Suppan said. "It helps a lot when your team comes up with seven big ones for you, though."

Playing with heavy hearts after Sunday's game against the Chicago Cubs was postponed because of the death of reliever Josh Hancock, the Cardinals' bats continued to struggle.

"It was tough but I think everybody handled it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It finally hit me midway though the game that we're playing a little fuzzy right now. We need to sharpen our focus."

St. Louis managed just two extra-base hits and has scored three runs or fewer in 16 of its 24 games. The Cards' only run came in the third on a one-out double by David Eckstein and an RBI single by Chris Duncan.

"The last thing he (Hancock) would want us to do is walk around here with our heads down; he was a competitor," said Albert Pujols, who extended his season-high hitting streak to nine games with a first-inning single. We have to honor him and go out there and play hard, play the season in honor of him."

Milwaukee jumped on St. Louis starter Kip Wells in the first inning after the first two batters were retired. Fielder doubled, Bill Hall walked and Johnny Estrada doubled to deep right field, plating both for a 2-0 edge.

Wells' throwing error in the second on Mench's infield hit allowed the Brewers' outfielder to reach second. He stole third base and scored on a balk by Wells that restored a 3-1 edge.

Fielder belted his sixth homer of the season - his fourth in seven games - in the fourth to increase the edge to 4-1. Mench blew open the contest with a two-run triple in the sixth inning off the Cards' starter.

Wells (1-5), who was coming off his worst performance of the season, was charged with seven runs and six hits in six innings. The righthander was ripped for seven runs and nine hits in a 10-3 loss to Cincinnati in his last outing.

"Kip was getting ahead in the count, all the damage was done against him with two strikes and that comes down to execution," La Russa said.

Skip Schumaker tied a career high with three hits for the Cardinals, who have lost three straight.