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 —

ST. LOUIS — (AP) Michael Wacha doesn’t mind a little bad weather.

Wacha had to wait out yet another lengthy rain delay, Matt Carpenter drove in three runs and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 Sunday.

St. Louis took two of three from the Cubs and has won four of six. Chicago has lost three of four.

Rain has figured in all three of Wacha’s starts this season. He actually seemed to embrace a third-inning downpour that halted play against the Cubs for 46 minutes.

“I’m used to it,” he said. “You just have to accept it and you’ve got to stay focused. I tried to stay loose and just keep my mind in what I needed to do.”

Wacha’s first start of the season was delayed before first pitch by 2 hours, 40 minutes. He endured a short 12-minute delay at the outset of his second outing.

Wacha (2-0) allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings Sunday. He gave up a two-run homer to Anthony Rizzo on the 16th pitch of the game, but yielded just one run on three hits the rest of the way. He struck out eight and walked one.

“At the start, I was a little erratic, but I was able to settle down a little bit,” he said. “I got some quick innings and some quick outs.”

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny says Wacha has the mental makeup to handle lengthy or short delays.

“He’s strong and he knows what to do out there,” Matheny said. “He keeps a good focus. I felt like his curveball was a lot better after the delay.”

Carpenter hit a two-run single in the second inning and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth that put St. Louis ahead to stay at 4-3. He is tied with Yadier Molina for the team lead with nine RBI.

“It felt good to get the job done,” Carpenter said. “When you get up in those situations, you just try and put a good at-bat up there and I thought I did that.”

Trevor Rosenthal gave up a run in the ninth, but retired Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio with the tying runs on base to pick up his fourth save in four opportunities.

Chicago starter Edwin Jackson (0-1) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked three in a grueling 114-pitch effort.

“I didn’t feel too bad,” Jackson said. “I threw a lot of pitches. I was behind in a lot of counts. They were aggressive, that’s a good hitting team.”

Jhonny Peralta highlighted a two-run eighth with an RBI double that put St. Louis up 6-3.

Rizzo got his club started with his second homer of the season.

“I just got extended,” Rizzo said. “I was lucky enough to get the barrel on it.”

After Carpenter singled in two runs in the second, he stole second and scored on Kolten Wong’s single for a 3-2 lead.

The Cubs tied the game in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Welington Castillo.

Carpenter then gave St. Louis the lead for good with a sacrifice fly to left that brought in Peter Bourjos, who began the fourth inning with a triple.

“We did the things we had to at the right times to win,” Carpenter said.

Trailing 4-3, Mike Olt led off the Cubs seventh with a double off Wacha. Castillo struck out and reliever Kevin Siegrist retired Darwin Barney and Bonifacio to end the threat.

Siegrist retired all five batters he faced.

“We had some chances, just couldn’t get hits at the right time,” Rizzo said.

— Associated Press —