MILWAUKEE (AP) — Aledmys Diaz hit a go-ahead pinch-homer in the seventh inning, Lance Lynn pitched six strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 Saturday night.

Diaz, who didn’t start at shortstop due to back stiffness and a sore shoulder, homered leading off the seventh against reliever Carlos Torres (0-2).

Lynn (2-1) gave up a run and three hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

Seung Hwan Oh got his fourth save in five tries.

Travis Shaw had an RBI double in the first for Milwaukee, and the Cardinals tied it at 1 in the fourth on Ryan Braun’s two-base error. Braun made a diving catch on Kolten Wong’s soft liner, but his throw to second from his knees sailed out of play down the first-base line, allowing a run to score.

St. Louis tacked on two runs in the ninth. Jedd Gyorko drove in a run with a triple and scored on an outfield throwing error.

The Brewers loaded the bases in the eighth, but Brett Cecil got Shaw to pop out to third to end the inning.

Milwaukee starter Chase Anderson didn’t allow an earned run in six innings. He surrendered six hits, struck out six and walked one.

The Brewers failed to hit a home run for the first time in 14 games. Eric Thames, who leads Milwaukee with eight home runs, drew three walks.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Dexter Fowler, who left Friday night’s game with right heel bursitis, remained out of the lineup. “Half a game is not going to be enough to straighten something out,” Matheny said. “He came in today in better shape, which is encouraging. A good chance to get him back in there tomorrow.”

Brewers: RHP Matt Garza (right groin strain) threw a bullpen session on Saturday as he prepares to make his first start of the season Monday against Cincinnati. Manager Craig Counsell said Garza threw 87 pitches in his last minor league rehab start and won’t be held to a specific pitch count. “He’s fine to do whatever. No restrictions,” Counsell said.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Mike Leake (2-1, 0.84 ERA) leads the National League in ERA. He is 4-4 with a 4.30 ERA in 13 career starts against Milwaukee. Leake was 2-0 with a 3.32 ERA with 20 strikeouts and two walks facing the Brewers last season.

Brewers: Jimmy Nelson (1-0, 4.42) is 0-7 with a 7.34 ERA in nine career games (eight starts) against St. Louis. He went 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in three versus the Cardinals last season.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers just might have to start giving fans in the outfield seats batting helmets.

Jett Bandy, Eric Thames and Travis Shaw each hit home runs to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 on Thursday night.

Bandy hit a two-run homer to left in the sixth and Thames put Milwaukee ahead with a two-run shot to center off Carlos Martinez (0-3) in the fifth. Shaw’s three-run blast in the first made it 12 consecutive games that the Brewers have homered. They lead the majors with 32 home runs.

Shaw’s fifth home run of the season traveled 458 feet and smacked off the facing of the third deck in right.

“The first day Travis was here, he took BP and saw some balls go to places I hadn’t seen in a while,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

Thames jumped all over a mistake from Martinez.

“Carlos Martinez is nasty,” Thames said. “He’s got a good fastball, good changeup, really good slider. I was trying to get something to hit and I put a barrel on it.”

Martinez gave up a career-high five runs to the Brewers on seven hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

“We’ve watched him pretty closely,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Thames. “He’s obviously hot and on a pretty impressive run. The home run looked to me like it had more of the plate than we wanted and up more a little bit more than what maybe we’d like.”

After he got out of the first, Martinez retired the side in order the next three innings before Thames’ home run.

“He did find a nice groove after that (first inning),” Matheny said. “Unfortunately, by then, we already had some trouble to deal with.”

Zach Davies (1-2) allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five, but needed Thames’ NL-leading eighth home run and seventh in the last eight games for his first win in four starts.

Jacob Barnes pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

Matt Carpenter hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth and Kolten Wong, whose career-high seven triples led the Cardinals in 2016, hit his first of the season in the top of the second with the bases loaded.

Jedd Gyorko hit a solo home run leading off the Cardinals’ eighth.

HOME RUN BATS

The Brewers have hit two or more home runs in a franchise-best six consecutive games and the 11th time overall.

CARPENTER HEATS UP MILLER PARK

Carpenter’s home run was his sixth at Miller Park and his highest total at any ballpark other than Busch Stadium.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Infielder Jhonny Peralta was put on the 10-day disabled list because of an upper respiratory condition. He sat out the four previous games, and the move was retroactive to Sunday. He is hitting .120 (3 for 25) with no RBI in eight games.

“Ever since we left camp, he’s been dealing with some upper respiratory issues that I think they (medical staff) were trying to identify,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. “They were having him use different medications. Unfortunately, it just didn’t sit well with him.”

Brewers: With right-hander Matt Garza (right groin strain) appearing ready to return from his rehab assignments, manager Craig Counsell must decide how Garza fits into the pitching staff.

LYONS BACK

St. Louis recalled left-hander Tyler Lyons before Thursday night’s game. His 2016 season ended July 31 because of a right knee stress reaction. He made three appearances in rehabilitation games with Triple-A Memphis this season, allowing two runs in 14 innings.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (0-3, 7.24 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season. With a win, he passes Dizzy Dean (134) for sole possession of 6th place all-time in franchise history. He is 14-8 (2.16 ERA) in 28 career starts against the Brewers.

Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta (3-0, 2.65) makes his fourth start of the season and 17th overall against the Cardinals who have been tough on him. He is 0-7 with a 4.85 ERA in his last nine starts against St. Louis.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dexter Fowler feels his swing is getting closer to what he expects.

Fowler hit his first two home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals, who swept the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday for their third straight 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

“I feel like I’ve been swinging the bat for the past few days pretty good,” Fowler said. “I just haven’t had the results. I’ve been sticking with it.”

Fowler, who left the World Series champion Chicago Cubs to sign an $82.5 million, five-year contract with St. Louis, was hitting .132 after going hitless in four at-bats Monday.

He rebounded with a triple on Tuesday and had three of the Cardinals’ eight hits Wednesday, including a third-inning drive into the right-field bullpen and a shot down the right-field line in the fifth, both off Gerrit Cole (1-2).

“He got a couple pitches that were up and put good swings on them,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

Fowler said his experience helped him deal with the rough start.

“It was just something mechanical that caused a lot of problems, and I got that straightened out,” he said. “Ever since I corrected that I’ve been feeling a lot better.”

Josh Bell had tied the score with a fourth-inning homer to center against Michael Wacha (2-1), who had retired his first 10 batters.

St. Louis is 6-9, winning its opener and losing nine of 11 before the sweep.

“It’s huge,” Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter said of the sweep. “It was just a much better series for us.”

Wacha allowed one run and four hits in 6 ⅔ innings. Matt Bowman relieved with two on and struck out Jordy Mercer to end the seventh, and Kevin Siegrist worked around a walk and two errors in the eighth. Pittsburgh left the bases loaded when Carpenter, who committed the first error, made a diving stop at first base and raced to beat Gregory Polanco to first.

“I’m just trying to stay locked in and make a play to help get us out of an ugly inning,” Carpenter said. “Thankfully, Siegrist made another good pitch and worked his way out of it. I was able to make a play for him, and we were able to limit the damage there.”

With closer Seung Hwan Oh unavailable after pitching the two previous games, former closer Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth. John Jaso singled with one out, Rosenthal threw a called third strike past Mercer, then struck out Jose Osuna for his first save this season.

Cole gave up six hits in six innings, struck out eight and walked none.

SNAPPING STREAKS

Jaso and Aledmys Diaz both stopped 18-at-bat hitless streaks. Jaso, who made his first big-league start in right field, singled in the fifth inning off Wacha. Diaz, the Cardinals shortstop, had a pinch-hit infield single in the seventh off Felipe Rivero.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Carpenter returned to the lineup after missing two games because of an injured ring finger on his right (throwing) hand.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 12.15) will make the first interleague start of his career Friday, the opener of a three-game series against the visiting New York Yankees.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (0-2, 3.57) will open a four-game series at Milwaukee on Thursday. He is 4-1 with a 1.36 ERA in eight starts and 11 relief appearances against the Brewers.

— Associated Press —