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Cardinals rout Brewers

Apr 28, 2012 - 4:30 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Jon Jay and Skip Schumaker each had three RBI as the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Milwaukee Brewers, 13-1, in the opener of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.

Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter knocked in two runs apiece as the Cardinals earned their second straight win.

Jake Westbrook (3-1) allowed one run on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts over seven innings to earn the victory.

"It's always good to win ballgames. We've strung together some here and that's what we want to do. I think we're playing with a lot of confidence," said Westbrook.

Yovani Gallardo (1-2) was touched for eight runs on eight hits and two walks through just two-plus innings for Milwaukee, which lost for the fifth time in eight games.

"I've been throwing the ball good and to have a game like this is very frustrating," Gallardo said.

Milwaukee opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with three straight one-out singles by Nyjer Morgan, Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez to bring home Morgan and place runners at the corners.

Corey Hart, though, followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play to keep it a one-run game.

David Freese and Yadier Molina then started the second with back-to-back singles and after Freese was retired at third on a fielder's choice off the bat of Carpenter, Schumaker's triple to left-center field plated Molina and Carpenter.

But Schumaker would be stranded at third as Westbrook hit a grounder back to the mound and Rafael Furcal went down swinging.

The Cardinals then blew the game open with an eight-run third inning.

After Jay led off with a base hit to left and Holliday worked a walk, Carlos Beltran and Freese followed with consecutive RBI singles. Molina was then given a free pass to load the bases before Carpenter brought home Beltran and Freese with a double to knock Gallardo out of the game.

But reliever Mike McClendon didn't fare much better, allowing a run-scoring single to Schumaker and then walking Furcal after Westbrook's sacrifice bunt to fill the bags again. Jay followed with a two-run single and Holliday added a base hit to center to score Furcal.

Beltran's inning-ending double play on a liner to second where Jay was doubled off at second mercifully ended the inning as St. Louis took a 10-1 lead.

Jay and Holliday slapped back-to-back RBI singles off McClendon in the fifth inning and Molina hit an RBI double in the eighth to complete the rout.

After the first inning, the Brewers didn't place a runner on second base until the fifth when Alex Gonzalez was hit by a pitch before Jonathan Lucroy singled to left. But McClendon struck out on a missed bunt and Rickie Weeks went down swinging to end the threat.

Ramirez's two-out double in the sixth was the only other time Milwaukee put a runner in scoring position.

Game Notes

Gallardo fell to 1-9 in 12 career starts against the Cardinals...The Brewers went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base, while St. Louis went 9-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.