Just when it looked as if the Milwaukee Brewers’ new closer was going to deliver an all-too-familiar result, Francisco Rodriguez managed to wiggle out of trouble — and finally help the bullpen deliver a win for Randy Wolf.

Although it wasn’t pretty, Rodriguez picked up a save just hours after he was named the team’s new closer and Wolf won his first game since April 30 as the Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Tuesday.

“It was nice,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “It was nice for Randy, too. He pitched a great game, comes out again with people on base and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The Cardinals’ Matt Holliday left the game after getting hit in the leg with a pitch in the first inning and Brewers slugger Ryan Braun was removed with a right adductor strain in the seventh. Braun said the injury, something he has been dealing with off and on all season, wasn’t serious. He hoped to play in Wednesday’s series finale, a day game.

“Hopefully,” Braun said. “We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”

Rickie Weeks hit a mammoth home run to give the Brewers the lead in the fourth.

Wolf (3-6) went 6 2/3 innings, giving up two runs and eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts to end his winless streak.

“It’s been a very, I think, tumultuous year to say the least,” Wolf said. “I’ve had my own personal demons to deal with, just my own frustrations. It’s been tough emotionally more than anything.”

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly (1-2) took the loss. St. Louis’ Lance Berkman was ejected for arguing a call.

With John Axford continuing to struggle and blowing another save Monday night, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke gave the closer’s job to Rodriguez before the game.

“Definitely, I didn’t want to get the job in this way,” Rodriguez said.

It wasn’t easy for Rodriguez, who gave up a leadoff double to David Freese, then a single to Yadier Molina to put runners on first and third with no outs.

Rodriguez then got Matt Carpenter to ground out, holding the runner at third, and struck out pinch hitter Skip Schumaker. With runners on second and third, Rodriguez got pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso to pop up and end the game.

Wolf apparently fought off the temptation to cover his eyes.

“I didn’t quite watch them through my fingers,” Wolf said of the final innings.

Wolf hasn’t had a victory since April 30 at San Diego, but the Brewers’ bullpen shares some of the blame for his winless streak. Coming into Tuesday’s game, Wolf was 0-4 with a 5.45 ERA during his last 12 starts. During that stretch, he left seven games with the lead, only to have the bullpen blow it.

Wolf said he got congratulations from several relievers.

“I said, ‘There it is, the elusive third win,'” Wolf said. “You usually say that in May, maybe.”

Kelly went six innings, giving up three runs — two earned — with six hits, a walk and four strikeouts.

Holliday took an 89 mph fastball from Wolf off his left leg in the first inning. Holliday remained in the game, but Cardinals manager Mike Matheny took him out in the bottom of the second. Holliday’s injury was described as a left thigh contusion.

The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI single by Corey Hart, but the Cardinals came back with two runs in the third.

Aramis Ramirez’s RBI single tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the third. Then, Weeks’ ninth homer of the season caromed high off the facade in center field, giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the fourth.

Wolf then allowed back-to-back singles to start the seventh. After a lengthy meeting with Roenicke at the mound, Wolf stayed in the game, and Tyler Greene’s sacrifice bunt advanced runners to second and third with one out.

Berkman pinch hit and Wolf ran the count to 3-2 before Berkman was called out on a checked swing. Berkman complained about the call and was thrown out of the game by plate umpire Brian Gorman.

Berkman said afterward that he was mostly upset that Gorman didn’t appeal the call.

“My biggest beef was you can’t make that call (from home plate),” Berkman said. “They think they can, but he was having a hard time getting the strike zone right, much less seeing if anybody swung a bat or not. So my beef was, just appeal. I mean, we’ve got a guy standing down there. It’s not tough to ask, you don’t have to make that call.”

With two outs, Roenicke pulled Wolf for reliever Jose Veras, who got Furcal to pop out to the catcher.

— Associated Press —

Allen Craig hit a bloop RBI single off Brewers closer John Axford to take the lead, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Monday night.

Milwaukee was leading 2-0 going into the ninth but Axford struggled with his control right away, eventually loading the bases with two outs and giving up a game-tying, two-run single to Matt Holliday.

Axford (2-6) then was lifted after giving up the single to Craig, which dropped softly into shallow left field. Axford left the game to a steady stream of boos from the crowd.

Axford’s sloppy inning wasted another strong performance by Brewers starter Mike Fiers, who pitched seven scoreless innings.

Jason Motte (4-3) claimed the win.

St. Louis had lost three straight coming into Monday’s game after getting swept by Cincinnati.

Corey Hart hit a solo home run for the Brewers, his 17th of the season. Ryan Braun added an RBI double in the eighth.

Fiers continued his string of strong performances since he was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on May 29. Fiers was coming off a loss to the Miami Marlins where he gave up two runs in 7 1-3 innings – snapping a scoreless streak of 21 1-3 innings.

Monday’s loss was another setback for the Brewers, who announced earlier in the day that ace Zack Greinke will skip his scheduled start Wednesday and isn’t scheduled to start again until the Brewers’ July 24 game at Philadelphia.

Manager Ron Roenicke said Greinke was fatigued and thrown off his routine after making three straight starts – a July 7 game where he was ejected in the first inning, another start the following day and again in the Brewers’ first game after the All-Star break.

Greinke said before the game that he was ”fine” with Roenicke’s decision but was reluctant to discuss it. Greinke has been subject to trade speculation in recent weeks, with the Brewers mired in fourth in the NL Central.

The Cardinals had a scoring chance in the fourth when Yadier Molina hit a one-out double and David Freese walked. But Fiers got Matt Carpenter to fly out to center – allowing Molina to take third base – then got Daniel Descalso to ground out and end the inning.

Milwaukee had a chance with two outs in the fifth when a sharp grounder by Cody Ransom glanced off the glove of Freese at third base, allowing Ransom to take second base on a play that was ruled a double. But Descalso charged a soft grounder by Fiers and threw him out, ending the inning.

Descalso led off the seventh with a single, and Lynn remained in the game to hit. After taking a ball from Fiers, Lynn put two bunt attempts foul then struck out on another bunt attempt. Rafael Furcal hit a grounder back to Fiers, who bobbled the ball but recovered in time to throw Furcal out at first as Descalso took second. Fiers then got Skip Schumaker to line out, ending the inning.

Francisco Rodriguez relieved Fiers in the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Matt Holliday, but got out of the inning without giving up a run.

Braun then gave the Brewers some breathing room, hitting a double to score Norichika Aoki. Braun took third on the throw home.

— Associated Press —