MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke realizes one victory doesn’t necessarily end the St. Louis Cardinals’ recent dominance over the Brewers.

But it’s a start.

Wily Peralta allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings, and the Brewers beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Milwaukee, which entered the series with a nine-game winning streak, had one run and six hits in losing the first two games to St. Louis. The Cardinals won last year’s season series 14-5.

“What’s really important — most important — is we lost two games to begin the series and we got that game back,” Roenicke said. “It’s important against our division, but we have to win more games than they do. It’s not head to head. We have to win more games this season then they do. That’s what we’re playing for.”

Peralta (2-0) allowed six hits and struck out three, and three pitchers combined for scoreless relief.

“He was a show-stopper today,” Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “He stopped their momentum and shut them down. He was a lot of fun to catch.”

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly (1-1) gave up an unearned run and three hits in four innings. Kelly left in the middle of the fourth inning with left hamstring tightness after trying to beat out a bunt attempt in the top half.

“I felt like I tried to step a little quicker, maybe a little overextend and hit the bag a little bit before it and ended up tweaking it,” said Kelly, who said he was scheduled to return to St. Louis for additional examination and treatment. “I was feeling pretty good. I had three pitches working for me first time the whole year. I had a slider, and a pretty good curve ball breaking down and had some velocity on my fastball and was locating it.”

Milwaukee went ahead in the third inning when first baseman Matt Adams misplayed Logan Schafer’s leadoff bouncer for an error, Peralta sacrificed and Carlos Gomez hit an RBI double to the wall in right-center, one pitch after bunting foul.

The Brewers boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fifth against Seth Maness. Wily Peralta reached when his two-out liner went off the glove of shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Gomez walked, Jean Segura reached on an infield single, Lucroy followed with a two-run single and Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single.

“I saw the replay,” Roenicke said on Wily Peralta’s hit. “I thought the ball did something funny on him. When they showed the replay from the center-field camera, you can see the ball slowly turn over, which gives you the idea it’s going to knuckle a little bit. It kind of jumped behind him.”

Allen Craig hit his first home run of the season, a sixth-inning drive off Peralta. Pat Neshek walked pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Shelby Miller struck out seven and allowed three hits over six innings, and Mark Ellis had two RBIs in his return from the disabled list to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 win Tuesday night over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta each hit solo shots in the ninth off reliever Jim Henderson for the Cardinals, who handed Milwaukee its second straight loss following a nine-game winning streak.

Miller (1-2) routinely fired fastballs clocked into the mid-90s past hitters before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh.

Only Aramis Ramirez managed to break through off Miller hitting a solo homer in the fourth. The Brewers have just one run and six hits over the first two games of the three-game set with their NL Central rival.

Marco Estrada (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs over six innings.

The right-hander, who was off to a good start with a 2.31 ERA entering Tuesday, had a little uncharacteristic trouble with his command. He hit Yadier Molina with a pitch in the second and threw a wild pitch in the fourth.

Still, Estrada allowed just five hits, which would have been more than adequate pitching during the Brewers’ long winning streak.

But that was before Milwaukee had to face the aces from St. Louis.

On Monday night, Lance Lynn shut down the Brewers, striking out 11 over seven innings. Miller was just as effective. He got Jean Segura to ground out to second and caught Ryan Braun looking on a 94 mph fastball to start the fourth.

The only big mistake was a fastball down the middle of the plate that Ramirez turned on for his second homer and team-best 12th RBI.

Miller, a 23-year-old righty, recovered nicely to end the fourth by getting Jonathan Lucroy to hit a one-hopper to first.

The Cardinals had built a 3-0 lead by the top of the fourth to back Miller. After missing the season’s first 13 games with left knee tendinitis, Ellis made a nice debut by driving in a run in the second on a groundout, and another in the fourth off a sacrifice fly.

St. Louis could have picked up a few more runs if not for a few blunders around the bases.

Allen Craig had an RBI double in the third but the inning ended after Estrada spun around to successfully pick him off. An inning later, both Matt Adams and Peralta were thrown out in rundowns in between third and home.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers’ nine-game winning streak was snapped Monday night when Lance Lynn struck out 11 in seven innings and Jon Jay hit a three-run homer for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 4-0 victory.

Lynn allowed three hits over seven innings before Carlos Martinez finished off the surprising Brewers, who still have the majors’ best record at 10-3. Lynn (3-0) frustrated hitters by mixing a fastball that topped 95 mph with a slider.

Jhonny Peralta hit a solo shot in the second off Brewers starter Matt Garza (0-2) before Jay sent a ball over the wall near the right field corner in the sixth.

Garza dueled Lynn until running into trouble in the sixth after Craig reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs and Peralta singled to set up Jay’s homer.

Lynn cooled off a Brewers team that was off to its best start since opening the 1987 season with 13 straight wins.

Lynn had Brewers batters missing all night. Jonathan Lucroy, a .357 hitter entering Monday, missed badly on a fastball low in the zone in the second for a strikeout. Two batters later, Scooter Gennett was left frozen at the plate on a called third strike on a heater outside.

Milwaukee’s best hope to score came in the fifth after No. 8 hitter Logan Schafer doubled to right with two outs to put runners at second and third. But that brought Garza, a career .094 hitter, to the plate and he struck out on three pitches.

Otherwise, the Brewers didn’t get another runner past second. Lynn boasted a career 2.53 ERA in 10 games against the Brewers coming in, and his mastery of Milwaukee continued.

With Lynn in control, about the only other drama provided by the Cardinals was when leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter was ejected in the fifth after apparently saying something to umpire Bob Davidson following a called third strike.

Garza allowed nine hits and four runs, and struck out six in seven innings for Milwaukee. Rookie reliever Wei-Chung Wang, a Rule 5 pick, pitched a scoreless ninth in making his big league debut.

Jean Segura, who was batting 1 for 19 at home entering Monday, had two of the hits against Lynn.

— Associated Press —