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Hall clutch again as Brewers down Cardinals

Jul 23, 2008 - 4:16 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Much to the chagrin of the St. Louis Cardinals, Bill Hall has gotten the hang of the late, tie-breaking home run.

Hall capped a comeback with a late homer for the second straight game Tuesday, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Held to one hit by Cardinals' starter Kyle Lohse through six innings, the Brewers chipped away at St. Louis' three-run lead in the seventh with an RBI single from Prince Fielder and back-to-back run-scoring hits from Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy in the eighth to knot the game.

Then, after Kyle McClellan (2-5) easily retired the first two batters of the ninth, Hall belted a 0-1 pitch into the stands in center field.

"Big hit by Rickie and another big one by J.J. just to give me a chance in the ninth inning to do that," Hall said. "It's just as much credit to those guys for battling through some tough at-bats and getting their job done to give me a chance to do that."

"Just have to learn from it," McClellan said. "It was a sinker, supposed to be away and down. It just came back right there down the middle of the zone. He did what he's supposed to do with it."

The blast, his 14th, came one night after his solo home run in the top of the 10th snapped a 3-3 deadlock and sparked a three-run frame in the Brewers' series-opening win.

"Big home run again," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Two nights in a row. Everybody wants those at-bats, that's a mark of a good club. We don't have anybody in our lineup that doesn't want those at-bats."

Brian Shouse (4-1) pitched a flawless eighth for the win and closer Salomon Torres followed with a perfect ninth for his 18th save.

The Cardinals jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first when Ryan Ludwick pounded the first pitch he saw from Brewers starter Jeff Suppan several rows deep into the center fields seat for his team-leading 23rd home run. Albert Pujols followed with a double and scored two batters later on Rick Ankiel's single.

Yadier Molina added a RBI double in the third to stake the Cardinals to a 3-0 advantage.

"I was just trying to stay sharp and not lose an edge," Suppan says. "I needed to stay focused on what I had to do. Fortunately, I was able to gain some command as the game went on."

Lohse ran in to his first bit of trouble in the seventh when Hardy opened the inning with a double and scored two batters later on a RBI single from Fielder. However, the righthander induced Gabe Kapler to hit a double-play grounder and struck out Hall to end the threat.

Despite allowing three runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts over eight frames, Lohse missed out on his chance for a 10th straight win when Weeks' double scored Jason Kendall and Hardy followed with a single to plate Weeks.

"The pitch to Weeks was right there on the corner," Lohse said. "He just did a good job of getting out there. I felt like I had established the inside part of the plate (enough) that he wouldn't be diving out there. He made a good swing on it and that hurt. Then I left a changeup to Hardy that found a hole. ... That's a tough one."

"We battled back," Hall said. "Kyle Lohse pitched a great game. He didn't make a lot of mistakes. I think he got a little tired at the end and started leaving some pitches up over the plate."

Thanks to Hall's heroics in the last two contests, the Brewers have homered in 18 straight games - one off the franchise record set in 1996 - and own 21 one-run victories, tied with the Cardinals for the most in the majors.

Additionally, Milwaukee's record (57-43) is the franchise's best in 26 years, one game off the pace the 1982 squad set at the 100-game mark of that season. Coincidentally, that team lost to the Cardinals in seven games in the World Series.