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Balanced attack leads Brewers past Cardinals

Jul 28, 2007 - 5:48 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers got eight strong innings from Claudio Vargas and multi-hit nights from five different hitters en route to an easy 12-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Corey Hart and Bill Hall each had three hits and two RBI for the Brewers, who entered Friday's contest with just two wins over their past seven contests - losing series to bottom-feeding San Francisco and Cincinnati.

"We hope we start scoring 10 runs every game," Hall said. "It's probably not going to happen but it was big for us to score a lot of runs today to kind of save the bullpen. We know we have a doubleheader tomorrow and it's great for Claudio, even though we scored a lot of runs, he kept them down and we didn't have to use our bullpen as much.

"Any time you have great hitting like that and Claudio keeps a team down with a doubleheader the next day, it's kind of picture perfect."

Vargas (9-2) earned his third straight win, yielding two runs and nine hits while striking out eight and issuing just one walk.

The 29-year-old righthander has lost just once since May 31.

"We have a doubleheader tomorrow and I knew I needed to go deep in the game and I did," Vargas said. "The last two outings I have felt better. My pitches work better and I pound in the zone."

Milwaukee put five runs on the board in the third and four more two innings later to blow the game wide open.

"I knew our kids would break out and score some runs," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Our guys have the ability to rise to the occasion. When things got a little bit south, they find ways to bounce back and make good things happen. And they did it again today.

"That's the thing that I enjoy so much about these young kids, they don't panic like some people. They just stay steady in their approach and keep plugging away. They're a young team in age but in maturity they are a veteran team."

The Brewers pounded on lefthander Mike Maroth (0-4), who came over in a trade from the Detroit Tigers last month with the intention of shoring up a suspect rotation.

The veteran allowed seven runs and 11 hits in four-plus innings, striking out three and walking none. Maroth now owns an 0-4 mark with a 9.20 ERA in six starts for St. Louis.

"Things haven't been going the way that I've liked them to," Maroth said. "It's not just this start but many starts now. It's one of those things where they just kept getting hits. When it rains, it pours."

"It's a tough start to the series," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I think we finally figured that Maroth is tipping his pitches. So I don't care what his location is like, it makes it impossible to get guys out. So we need to see if we can correct that."

Kevin Mench had four hits and scored three runs for Milwaukee. It was the veteran outfielder's first four-hit game since August 13, 2005 against the New York Yankees when he was with the Texas Rangers.

Overall, the Brewers pounded out 19 hits against Maroth and a pair of relievers. J.J. Hardy and Johnny Estrada had two hits a piece.

New acquisition Scott Linebrink pitched a scoreless ninth for Milwaukee, striking out one and issuing a walk. The veteran righthander was brought over in exchange for a trio of minor leaguers from the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

"To come in here tomorrow and to know that I already put on the uniform once and have gone out there and done the job, I think it helps you relax a little bit," Linebrink said.

His presence eases the pressure on bullpen stalwarts Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero.