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Wells helps Cardinals crush Brewers in series opener

Aug 15, 2007 - 5:45 AM By J.R. Radcliffe PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) - Kip Wells threw six strong innings and drove in two runs as the St. Louis Cardinals rolled to a 12-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in the opener of an important National League Central Division three-game series on Tuesday.

The win helped the defending World Series champion Cardinals (56-60) close within 4 1/2 games of the division-leading Brewers (62-57), who remained 1 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs (60-58) for first place. Chicago lost, 6-5, to Cincinnati.

Wells (6-13) gave up three runs and four hits with five strikeouts to record back-to-back wins for the first time since June 3-8, 2005 while with Pittsburgh. He retired 14 of 15 batters prior to Ryan Braun's triple in the sixth.

"This has to be one of his most impressive starts because he put the inning behind him and made a whole bunch of good pitches from there," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Wells had not allowed a home run in 13 straight games before shots to Prince Fielder and Geoff Jenkins in the first inning to dig a 3-0 hole. It was Fielder's league-leading 37th blast this season.

" You come in after the inning and find out they're up and hittable and if you make a correction and keep them down in the zone, you'll avoid those kind of hard-hit balls," Wells said. "That was the change I made, just making sure I kept the ball down in the zone, and if I gave up hits, I gave them up down in the zone.

"Not giving up a home run for a long time, it was inevitable that it was going to happen. At the same token, if I make a concerted effort to get the ball down in the zone, I'll get better results."

With a pregame ceremony that stretched on for nearly 40 minutes commemorating Milwaukee's 1982 World Series entrant, the fans at Miller Park had a chance to bathe in some positive history. Then came the not-so-great present.

St. Louis took the lead in the fifth inning after trailing, 3-2. Albert Pujols and David Eckstein both scored on a bases-loaded throwing error by third baseman Braun. Jim Edmonds then singled to chase Brewers starter Chris Capuano (5-10), who was relieved by Manny Parra, who plated Ryan Ludwick on a bases-loaded walk for a 5-3 advantage.

Wells helped his own cause with a two-run single down the right field line and Eckstein's sacrifice fly capped the huge six-run uprising, 8-3.

"Everyone's kind of contributing right now, and that's how you win ballgames," said Ludwick, who also had a two-run double in the third.

"It just seems like that one big inning is beating me right now," Capuano said. "I've just got to make some more quality pitches. I just haven't been making enough. I feel like I'm just one pitch away from getting a double play or getting out of something."

Edmonds had four hits and three RBI in helping St. Louis capture six of its last eight games overall.

"You look at games we've played recently, and we had more guys that are taking good at-bats," La Russa said. "We go into this (final) stretch of games starting out with a good chance."

The Brewers have lost 15 consecutive games in which Capuano has started, setting a new club record. In the stretch, Capuano is 0-10 with a 6.78 ERA after opening the season 5-0. Milwaukee has not won a Capuano start since May 7 against Washington, breaking a futility mark established when the club lost 14 straight starts with Steve Woodard on the hill over the 1999 and 2000 season.

The previous stretch in a single season was in 1988, over 11 straight games started by Chris Bosio. After the game, manager Ned Yost hinted that his chances to prolong the streak could be limited.

"He's out there giving everything that he's got, and he's laboring through it right now," Yost said. "But I'll talk to (Brewers general manager Doug Melvin) and think about it tonight and think about it (Wednesday). We've got to see what our options are first. Cap may be our best option."

Braun had three hits, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, to finish a double shy of the cycle. He belted his 23rd homer in the eighth.

"I don't feel like we're content with where we're at, but I feel like we need to continue to push hard and tack on runs to keep the momentum on our side," said Braun "It's something we haven't been doing a good enough job of."

Jenkins' 208th career home run in the first tied him for second with Gorman Thomas on the club's all-time list.

Thomas was one of several players on hand during the ceremony, which featured 24 players from the only Milwaukee team to reach a World Series. Both teams wore retro jerseys to commemorate the "Suds Series," which the Cardinals won in seven games.