MILWAUKEE (AP) — The end of a seven-game losing streak lifted the spirits of the Milwaukee Brewers.

An 11-2 win Sunday over the St. Louis Cardinals gave manager Ron Roenicke’s team a one-game lead in the NL Central at the All-Star break. A team that has also had to cope with the death of shortstop Jean Segura’s 9-month-old son now gets a breather for a few days.

With Segura home on bereavement leave, Elian Herrera had a career-best five hits a day after being called up from the minors to take Segura’s roster spot. The offense tied a season high with 19 hits to back a strong seven-inning outing by starter Wily Peralta.

“Somebody had to step up. … That’s huge for us, for everybody. It lets us go into the break like that and still in first place,” said Peralta (10-6), who allowed three hits and struck out five before departing after seven innings because of a minor leg cramp.

Like Segura, Peralta is from the Dominican Republic. The pitcher was heading home for the break, and he was planning to text Roenicke to let him know how Segura was doing.

The morning started with the Brewers organization holding its annual Family Day outing, when players and coaches can bring their children to the ballpark. Players were smiling alongside their sons and daughters on a sunny afternoon, and Roenicke hoped the day would create a diversion from the team’s roughest patch of the season.

All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy said he thought the family time possibly helped the squad.

“But it doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing whenever you’re with your family,” Lucroy said. “It is a business and it is a job we have to perform, but ultimately the goal is to provide for our family, and family is most important.”

Peralta allowed just three singles and gave up his only run after Kolten Wong reached first on a passed ball despite striking out. Wong eventually scored on Matt Adams’ groundout.

Peralta got a defensive boost with a runner on base in the fifth when left fielder Khris Davis made an over-the-shoulder catch on Jon Jay’s fly to the warning track with a man on first.

“I had to step in like an extra gear … just kind of a lucky play,” Davis said. “A big play with the runner on first, he’s probably going to score.”

Davis hit his team-high 15th homer in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-1 lead.

For the Cardinals, a frustrated Carlos Martinez (2-4) allowed four runs in four innings.

Making his seventh career start, Martinez gave up three walks and a balk while also hitting Carlos Gomez with a pitch in the fourth. Gomez then scored on Scooter Gennett’s two-out, two-run double down the left-field line for a 4-1 lead.

Martinez flicked his head back in frustration as he watched the ball take a tricky carom off the side wall on outfielder Matt Holliday.

An inning earlier, Martinez tossed his bat behind his back in the direction of home plate after grounding out, leading umpire Jeff Nelson to raise his arms and stare at the 22-year-old pitcher for a few seconds.

“I tried to throw the bat to the ground. I don’t know if it was emotion,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “I went to the umpire and said I was sorry. It was just frustration.”

Manager Mike Matheny said Martinez was having a tough time “finding anything.”

“He’s trying to harness his emotions a little bit, which will harness his control,” Matheny said. “It was a rough day for him. It’s one of those learning points.”

Milwaukee added three runs off the Cardinals bullpen to stretch the lead to 8-1 in a sixth-inning burst started by Herrera’s double. The Brewers are in first place at the All-Star break for just the fourth time in franchise history.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright knew how tough it was for the Milwaukee Brewers to play Saturday after finding out that shortstop Jean Segura’s 9-month-old son had died.

But Wainwright had to push those thoughts aside as he pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cardinals to a 10-2 win over Milwaukee for a tie atop the NL Central.

The Brewers lost their seventh in a row.

Segura left the team and traveled home to the Dominican Republic, a day after his 9-month-old son died. The Brewers observed a moment of silence for Janniel Segura, and the clubhouse was closed before the game.

The 24-year-old shortstop was put on the bereavement list when he learned after the Brewers’ 7-6 loss to St. Louis on Friday night that his son had died. Manager Ron Roenicke said the boy had been ill.

“When something like that happens, you become a family,” Wainwright said. “Baseball as a whole becomes a family. There’s bigger things than baseball. I understand that he’s going through something that I hope I never, never have to go through. So our hearts and prayers go out to him.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was catcher for the Cardinals when St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile died of a heart problem on June 22, 2002.

“The extended family in (Milwaukee’s) clubhouse is hurting right along with him,” he said. “You can’t help but take a step back and just prioritize life. Prioritize just how fragile it is. It gives us perspective.”

“When that happened (Kile’s death), we had a lot of guys having a bunch of conversations you typically wouldn’t have inside a clubhouse,” Matheny said.

Wainwright (12-4) gave up two runs and five hits. He has allowed just four earned runs in his last six starts.

Wainwright helped himself with an RBI single and tied Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon and the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka for the most wins in the majors.

St. Louis trailed Milwaukee by 6 1/2 games on July 1, but Wainwright knows how quickly a team’s fortune can change in a week. In fact, he said that a week ago.

“My quote was `In a week from now, we could be doing a completely different kind of interview,” he said. “It could be what has turned the season around for. And, that’s what’s happened. This game is a funny game of ups and downs. The teams that have the most ups and the least amount of downs end up winning the whole thing.”

Tony Cruz drove in a career-high three runs and Kolten Wong homered for the Cardinals.

“It’s nice to be able to make a little ground,” Matheny said. “It just comes back to playing each game the right way.”

For the Brewers, it was a most difficult day.

“I think everybody in the clubhouse was affected quite a bit,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “I don’t want to make excuses. We knew that we still have a game to play and a job to do, but we did not play well today.”

The Brewers have lost 11 of 12. They had held sole possession of first place since April 9.

Frustrated Brewers star Carlos Gomez struck out swinging in the fifth inning and tried three times without success to break the bat over his leg. He slammed his helmet and tore up his batting gloves.

Jimmy Nelson (1-1) went 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs and eight hits. He was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Thursday to make his first start since replacing ineffective Marco Estrada in the rotation.

St. Louis took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. A two-out error by second baseman Scooter Gennett on a grounder set up Cruz’s two-run single.

Wong hit a two-run homer in the second. It was his fifth home run in the last six games since coming back from the disabled list.

Cruz doubled home a run in the third.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Matt Holliday hit a solo homer with two outs in the top of the ninth inning off Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez, completing the St. Louis’ Cardinals comeback from a six-run deficit for a 7-6 win Friday night over Milwaukee.

Milwaukee has lost six straight and 10 of 11 games.

Holliday sent the first-pitch changeup from Rodriguez (3-3) into the left-field seats to break the tie. The Cardinals hit four homers and cut the sliding Brewers’ lead in the NL Central to one game.

Trevor Rosenthal wrapped up six shutout innings for the St. Louis bullpen with his 28th save, getting two strikeouts after allowing a leadoff single to Aramis Ramirez in the bottom of the ninth. All-Star setup man Pat Neshek (4-0) tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Edinson Volquez tossed a complete game six-hitter to win his fourth straight start and the Pittsburgh Pirates downed the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday night.

Neil Walker, Josh Harrison, Russell Martin and Andrew McCutchen all drove in two runs for Pittsburgh, which avoided being swept in the four-game series.

Volquez (8-6) has a 0.90 ERA in winning four consecutive starts for the first time in his career. He struck out five and walked two.

Shelby Miller (7-8) allowed four runs in five innings. He walked four and struck out one.

Walker extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games with a two-run double in the fifth that extended the Pirates lead to 4-1. McCutchen started the three-run uprising with a run-scoring single that broke a 1-all tie.

McCutchen drove in a run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Harrison added a two-run double in the inning that made it 6-1.

Martin homered off Jason Motte in the ninth. Martin drove in his 500th career run in the first inning.

The Cardinals were playing without All-Star catcher Yadier Molina, who tore a ligament in his right thumb in Wednesday’s 5-2 win. Molina will undergo surgery on Friday and is expected to miss 8 to 12 weeks.

St. Louis tied it in the third on a sacrifice fly by Matt Carpenter. Kolten Wong began the inning with a single.

— Associated Press —