ST. LOUIS (AP) — For six innings, Matt Garza was in top form. Then he tweaked a left oblique and it all fell apart for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers’ bullpen quickly surrendered a two-run lead that had once seemed so secure in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

“It was bad enough where I had to take myself out of the game and I don’t do that,” Garza said. “There’s too much left in the season and I thought I’d make the smart play.”

Manager Ron Roenicke said Garza will be examined on Monday after feeling his side grab on one of his final pitches.

“He couldn’t keep going,” Roenicke said. “Great game, great fastball. He had a lot working.”

Garza said he had a similar injury last spring.

“I hadn’t even thought of it and it just happened, and you try and think of what you did,” Garza said. “It felt like a muscle grab, and it was one of those, and son of a gun.”

John Lackey won his St. Louis debut when the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the seventh inning, capped by a go-ahead from rookie Oscar Taveras.

The Cardinals took two of three from NL Central-leading Milwaukee and pulled within one game of the division lead.

“We played a good ballgame,” Roenicke said. “Got a couple of runs of Lackey and put up some zeroes and you feel pretty good about the game.

“It didn’t work out.”

Lackey (1-0) was the Cardinals’ big catch at the trade deadline that capitalized on Boston’s sell-off. The right-hander won the clinching Game 6 of the World Series against St. Louis last fall allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings and is 12-7 overall.

Trevor Rosenthal struck out Carlos Gomez with two on for his major league-leading 34th save in 38 chances.

Matt Holliday homered off Zach Duke with one out in the seventh. Recently acquired A.J. Pierzynski hit a tying single off Jeremy Jeffress (0-1) and Taveras singled up the middle.

Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single in the first for Milwaukee, his seventh hit of the series, and Mark Reynolds hit his 19th homer in the second.

Lyle Overbay pinch-hit for Garza in the seventh with two outs, a runner on first and the Brewers up 2-0. Garza had been coming up the dugout steps, but Roenicke said the pitcher hadn’t heard him say he was coming out.

“When you’re talking about obliques, you can’t go out there,” Roenicke said.

Overbay singled, raising his career average to .364 against Lackey, but Gomez popped up. Garza was out after just 71 pitches, and the Brewers’ bullpen quickly surrendered the lead.

Garza needed just 38 pitches and faced the minimum the first four innings. He went to a full count for the first time against Matt Adams, who doubled leading off the fifth.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis manager Mike Matheny decided at the last minute against giving slumping infielder Kolten Wong the day off on Saturday.

It proved to be a smart move.

Wong homered and had three RBIs and Justin Masterson won his St. Louis debut as the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-7 on Saturday night.

St. Louis, which had lost three of its previous four, moved two games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers had a two-game winning streak snapped.

Wong, who entered the contest mired in a 6 for 36 skid, went 3 for 5. He slammed a bases-loaded single to trigger a five-run outburst in the second inning that put St. Louis ahead to stay 6-1. He also hit a solo homer in the first.

“That worked out fine for all of us,” Matheny said of the late pre-game move. “It was nice to see him bounce back. With a young player, when he has a couple of rough days, you wonder, `can he leave it behind and go back to having a nice approach.’ He jumped right in and had some big at-bats.”

Wong was 2 for 3 in his career against Brewers starter Kyle Lohse, a key factor in Matheny leaving him in the lineup.

Wong, who entered the game hitless in his previous eight at-bats, spent some extra time studying his approaches at the plate following Friday’s 7-4 loss to Milwaukee.

“I knew the reason I was striking out as soon as the game finished yesterday,” Wong said. “I was swinging way too hard trying to do way too much.”

Masterson (1-0) gave up five runs on seven hits over six innings. He was acquired from Cleveland on Wednesday for minor league outfielder James Ramsey.

“There was a little rust out there,” Masterson said. “But with that intense offense that we had, and some solid defense, that makes it fun to be out there.”

Aramis Ramirez and Scooter Gennett drove in two runs each for the Brewers. Ramirez had three hits for the second successive game.

Lohse (11-6) took the loss. Lohse, who pitched for the Cardinals from 2008-12, gave up nine runs on nine hits over four innings. He struck out two and walked three. Lohse gave up eight earned runs in a 15-5 loss at Pittsburgh on June 6.

“It was just a rough one,” Lohse said. “I just left too many balls out over the plate.”

St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal recorded his 33rd save in 37 opportunities. He allowed a leadoff double to Jean Segura. Rosenthal then appeared to hit Elian Herrera with a pitch, but the call was overturned by a challenge. Rosenthal then got Herrera to ground out. He struck out Carlos Gomez and Gerardo Parra to end the game.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Aramis Ramirez knows he’s not supposed to have success like this against Adam Wainwright.

“I don’t have an explanation for it,” the Milwaukee Brewers cleanup man said after setting the tone with a home run and an RBI double off the St. Louis Cardinals’ ace in a 7-4 victory Friday night. “He’s been one of the best pitchers in the game for a while.

“I don’t know, for some reason I get good swings and good pitches to hit.”

Ramirez has three homers, eight doubles and eight RBIs to go with a .415 average against Wainwright, the best in the majors against the right-hander. The homer was the first Wainwright has ever allowed on a 3-0 count.

“After the fact I probably should have been ready for it,” Wainwright said. “He had no reason not to (swing) right there.”

Wily Peralta won his 13th game to tie for the National League lead and Jonathan Lucroy’s bases-clearing double chased Wainwright (13-6) in a four-run sixth inning that put Milwaukee up by six. The NL Central leaders are three games ahead of the Cardinals.

“Whenever you’re down in the zone with 95 mph sinkers and throwing offspeed early in the count for strikes, it’s tough for the opposing team,” Lucroy said.

Matt Carpenter had two hits and three RBIs and Matt Holliday homered for St. Louis, which has lost three of four.

Peralta, Wainwright and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw all have 13 wins. Last year, the 25-year-old Peralta was 11-15 with a 4.37 ERA in his first full season in the majors.

Peralta (13-6) allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings to win his fourth straight start. He’s given up two or fewer runs in all of them, a stretch that began with seven innings of three-hit ball and no earned runs at home against the Cardinals on July 13.

Ramirez hit his 13th homer leading off the second, made it 2-0 with an RBI double in the third and had an infield hit in the fifth.

Francisco Rodriguez got the final out for his 32nd save in 36 chances.

— Associated Press —