CINCINNATI (AP) — After three last-place seasons, the Reds hoped they’d turned a corner. Instead, they’re off to their worst start since the Great Depression.

And there’s no telling how low they’ll go.

Greg Garcia hit two home runs for the first time in his career, powering the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory Saturday that left Cincinnati with the worst record in the majors at 2-12. The last time the Reds opened a season so badly was 1931, when they dropped 17 of 19.

“You never expect it,” manager Bryan Price said . “It’s a tough spot, but you’ve got to deal with it.”

It’s especially discouraging for a rebuilding team that’s seen attendance drop significantly while it put together three straight seasons with at least 94 losses.

“That’s the way it’s going,” said left-hander Brandon Finnegan (0-1), who made his season debut. “Everything that can do against us goes against us. We can’t find the big break.”

The Cardinals are heading in the opposite direction, winning a season-high three in a row with an offense that’s finally rounding into form. They’ve scored 24 runs and piled up eight homers — by six different players — during the first three games of the series.

Garcia had a solo homer and a two-run shot off Finnegan. He came into the game with a total of seven career homers, including only two last season. Garcia also doubled and scored on Tommy Pham’s double.

Getting a chance to start in a day game after a night game, Garcia — who usually faces right-handed pitchers — got his first career homers off a lefty.

“I hadn’t hit many home runs, so you remember most of them,” Garcia said. “I had an idea there weren’t many against a lefty, if any.”

Garcia also doubled and scored on Pham’s double as the Cardinals pulled away.

“It’s taking advantage of an opportunity — an unlikely opportunity against a left-handed starter,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He had great at-bats. It’s impressive how he stays sharp and is ready to go.”

Pham had a solid game at the top of the lineup. He singled twice, doubled, walked, stole two bases and scored two times. Marcell Ozuna had a sacrifice fly, but his hitting streak ended at 12 games.

Miles Mikolas (2-0) limited the Reds’ struggling offense to four hits in seven innings, including Tucker Barnhart’s homer . It was his best outing since signing with the Cardinals after spending the last three seasons pitching in Japan.

“It’s nice to kind of put that in your back pocket,” Mikolas said. “I’ll be in a good mood the next couple of days.”

The Reds placed their hopes for a turnaround on the top of their rotation staying healthy. The pitching staff has been sapped by injuries again this season and has given up the most runs and homers in the majors. Their 6.04 ERA is by far the worst in the majors.

Finnegan strained his left biceps during spring training. He was activated before Saturday’s game and gave up six hits, four walks and five runs in 4 1/3 innings, throwing 91 pitches on his 25th birthday.

“He wasn’t real sharp,” Price said. “He had a hard time getting things going.”

WALK THIS WAY

Ozuna drew his first walk of the season in his 66th plate appearance.

HOLLAND TIME

Greg Holland made his third appearance for the Cardinals and gave up a single during one inning. The Cardinals signed him to a one-year deal on March 31. In his last two appearances, he’s given up one hit and one walk in two innings.

GOLD GLOVE

Barnhart was presented with his 2017 Gold Glove Award on the field pregame, and fans received a Barnhart bobblehead. His homer was his second of the season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RH Luke Gregerson has made another step in his recovery from a strained left hamstring, pitching on consecutive days during a minor league rehab assignment. He got hurt during spring training.

Reds: OF Jesse Winker is expected to miss at least one more day with a sore right shoulder. He was scratched from the lineup on Friday.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Carlos Martinez (1-1) is 6-3 career against the Reds. St. Louis has won six of his last eight starts against Cincinnati.

Reds: Homer Bailey (0-2) makes his fourth start still looking for his first win. Bailey is 6-13 career against the Cardinals with a 5.86 ERA.

— Associated Press —

CINCINNATI (AP) — Yadier Molina heard the boos again. Then he came through again, sending the Cincinnati Reds to their lowest point since 1955.

Molina homered and drove in three runs Friday night, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 victory that deepened the Reds’ opening slump and added to his legacy against them.

The catcher has gotten booed loudly at Great American Ball Park — even during the 2015 All-Star Game — by fans who haven’t forgotten his scuffle with Brandon Phillips in 2010. They boo louder every time he delivers another game-turning hit.

He’s still got the touch.

“Yadi continues to just get better,” manager Mike Matheny said.

St. Louis came into the series with a stagnant offense but broke out during two games against the worst pitching staff in the majors, piling up 18 runs and 25 hits. Molina has homered in each game, giving him a team-high five this season.

Molina’s 21 career homers against the Reds are his most against any team.

“Yadi’s being Yadi,” said Luke Weaver (2-0), who pitched into the seventh inning. “He does it so well back there and calls a great game.”

The Reds lost their sixth in a row and have the worst record in the majors at 2-11. They also lost 11 of their first 13 games in 1955. Another loss on Saturday would produce their worst start since 1931.

“We’ve been through some stretches — some challenging, difficult times with winning games over the last few seasons,” manager Bryan Price said.

The Reds managed only two infield singles until the seventh, when Devin Mesoraco hit a two-run homer off Weaver. The right-hander has beaten the Reds three times in a row, giving up a total of four earned runs. Overall, Weaver is 9-1 in 12 starts since Aug. 2.

Bud Norris allowed a hit and a walk in the ninth while getting his second save in two chances, fanning Tucker Barnhart for the final out.

Molina had a solo shot and a two-run single off Tyler Mahle (1-2), who gave up nine hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings. The Cardinals took control with five runs in the sixth, when Dexter Fowler had a solo homer and Marcell Ozuna extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single.

“They hit some good pitches — that hurt — and I made some bad pitches,” Mahle said. “It was a little bit of both. It all just kind of blew up.”

Joey Votto was back in the Reds lineup after getting a day off, ending his streak of 202 consecutive starts. He singled home a run in the eighth off Tyler Lyons and was picked off first base by Dominic Leone.

WHAT ABOUT HOLLAND?

Greg Holland, who signed a one-year deal with St. Louis on March 31, was available for the ninth inning, but Matheny went with Norris instead. Holland made two appearances in the minors before joining the Cardinals. He struggled in his first appearance on Monday, walking four, and then pitched a scoreless inning on Wednesday.

“We’re just trying to get him some consistent opportunities,” Matheny said. “This is kind of spring training (for Holland). I know he wants to get in for those situations. He’ll get his opportunities.”

BULLPEN MOVE

The Reds helped their depleted bullpen by selecting the contract of right-hander Dylan Floro from Triple-A Louisville. Right-hander Tanner Rainey was optioned. Reliever Ariel Hernandez was designated for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Right-handed reliever Luke Gregerson made his third minor league rehab appearance, throwing a scoreless inning. He has been sidelined since spring training with a strained left hamstring.

Reds: Jesse Winker was a late scratch from the lineup because of a sore right shoulder. Phillip Ervin replaced him in right field.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (1-0) faced the Reds in 2012 and 2013 as a Padres reliever. He has yielded eight runs in 12 innings in his two starts for the Cardinals.

Reds: Left-hander Brandon Finnegan is expected to come off the DL and make his first start of the season. He strained his left biceps during spring training.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Following a pair of extra-inning games, the Milwaukee Brewers hoped to establish a decent margin in their series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Matt Albers held on to a one-run lead in the ninth inning to earn his first save for Milwaukee, retiring Kolten Wong and Dexter Fowler to strand a pair of runners, and the Brewers beat the Cardinals 3-2 Wednesday.

“These games are fun,” relief pitcher Dan Jennings said. “It seems like we were just here a few hours ago after that tough one last night so it’s a good way to bounce back.”

Milwaukee had a two-run lead when Tommy Pham led off the bottom of the ninth with a drive against Josh Hader that hit a railing above the fence in left-center. The play originally was ruled a double by second base umpire Lance Barrett, but the call was overturned on a video review.

Albers relieved and allowed singles to Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez, then retired Wong on a foulout and struck out Fowler, who was pinch hitting, for his third big league save. He got his first two for Washington last year.

“I did like Matt against those two right-handers,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “I thought that was a real good matchup for us. They got base hits but he made some great pitches to Fowler especially.”

Junior Guerra (1-0) allowed one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings in his first start this season.

Adam Wainwright (0-2), making his second start after a stint on the disabled list caused by a strained left hamstring, allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings.

“That’s how I expect to go out and carry us deep into the game,” said Wainwright, who threw 91 pitches. “Two of those three runs I made pitches just how I wanted to. I made a bad pitch to Hernan Perez, that’s the one I want back.”

St. Louis has lost three of four series this season. The Cardinals’ starting lineup was missing Fowler, Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina, who served a one-game suspension stemming from an altercation with Arizona manager last weekend.

Milwaukee built a 3-0 lead on home runs by Perez in the second and Eric Thames in the third followed by Jonathan Villar’s RBI groundout in the fifth.

Thames’ fifth home run of the season went just over the glove of right fielder Harrison Bader, who jumped at the 9-foot fence and looked at his glove in disbelief after he failed to snag the ball.

“I missed it, got under it, but luckily it was hit during the day and not at night,” Thames said. “The outfielder probably would have been running in if it was hit during the nighttime.”

Matt Carpenter hit a run-scoring groundout in the sixth. He failed to reach base in a game for the first time this season.

FIRST PITCH

Prior to the game the Cardinals honored the memory of Preston Cope who was fatally injured in the Marshall County High School shooting. His younger brother, Maddox, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: C Manny Pina was held out of the lineup with tightness in his right calf. The Brewers designated RHP J.J. Hoover for assignment and optioned OF Brett Phillips to Triple-A Colorado Springs to recall Guerra and RHP Jorge Lopez.

Cardinals: INF Jedd Gyorko tested his strained right hamstring on the field prior to the game and go to Class A Palm Beach on a rehabilitation assignment.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Zach Davies (0-1, 5.40) starts Friday in the opener of a three-game series at the New York Mets.

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (1-1, 5.59) takes the mound start as St. Louis starts a four-game series at Cincinnati Thursday.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matt Carpenter hit a two-run home run with no outs in the 11th inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Carpenter turned around a pitch from J.J. Hoover (0-1) for the third game-ending homer of his career. It capped a night in which St. Louis rallied from one-run deficits in the ninth and 10th innings.

Domingo Santana singled in Eric Thames to put Milwaukee ahead 2-1 in the ninth inning, but Tommy Pham scored from second on a pair of wild pitches by Jacob Barnes to tie it in the bottom of the inning.

After Orlando Arcia singled in a run in the top of the 10th, Greg Garcia made it 3-3 with his own RBI single a half-inning later.

Dominic Leone (1-2) pitched a clean 11th inning before Paul DeJong set up Carpenter’s winner with an infield single.

Eric Thames homered in the first inning for the Brewers.

St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez allowed a run and six hits over six innings. He stuck out four and walked two.

Brent Suter held the Cardinals to a run and four hits over 5 1/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: C Manny Pina was removed in the seventh inning with tightness in his right calf. … OF Lorenzo Cain is listed as day-to-day after bruising his Achilles tendon in a first base collision with Jose Martinez on Monday.

Cardinals: Martinez was also held out of the starting lineup due to the collision with Cain. He is day-to-day.

UP NEXT

Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra will make his first start of the season against St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (0-1, 7.36) in the final game of the three-game series Wednesday. Wainwright gave up three runs in 3 2/3 innings of a 3-1 loss to Arizona on Thursday.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — In his St. Louis debut, Greg Holland walked four batters in the 10th inning and forced home the go-ahead run Monday night that gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-4 win over the Cardinals.

The 32-year-old Holland, who tied for the NL lead with 41 saves for Colorado last season, was signed as a free agent on opening day. He pitched two innings at Class A before joining the Cardinals earlier in the day.

Holland (0-1) walked two batters to begin the 10th. After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk loaded the bases. The three-time All-Star closer then walked Orlando Arcia and was pulled.

Matt Albers (2-0) gave up the tying run in the ninth. The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs, and Dexter Fowler’s sacrificed fly tied it at 4.

Brewers newcomer Lorenzo Cain tripped over the foot of Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez on a play in the ninth, and both exited. Martinez bruised his right Achilles.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas pitched 6 1/3 innings. He gave up four runs on eight hits. He struck out five and had a balk.

A two-run single by Manny Pina gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead in the fourth.

The Cardinals took a 3-2 in the third with all the runs coming after there were two outs. Fowler hit an RBI single and after Jhoulys Chacin walked the bases loaded, Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run single.

Milwaukee scored twice in the second on a single by Domingo Santana and a two-out double by Arcia.

OUTFIELD ASSISTS

Milwaukee outfielders cut down two runners attempting to take an extra base. In the first, Fowler tried to stretch a single to right center into a double and was thrown out by center fielder Cain. In the second, Ozuna was thrown out at third after hitting a double down the third-base line by left fielder Ryan Braun.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: OF Brett Phillips was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Monday. He replaces OF Christian Yelich (right oblique injury). Phillips, who was 1 for 7 with a triple and seven walks at Colorado Springs, takes the spot of reliever Adrian Houser, who was optioned Sunday to Double-A Biloxi.

Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson (left hamstring strain) was to make his third rehab appearance Monday, general manager Mike Girsch said before the game. “We’re getting close. We’re probably trying to get him back-to-back and see how that goes, but maybe a week or 10 days, something like that in that range,” Girsch said. … 3B Jedd Gyorko (right hamstring strain) did some work on the field Monday, Girsch said. “He’s probably a few days from ramping up his baseball activities,” said Girsch, who expects Gyorko to be back in about 10 days. … RHP Brett Cecil (left shoulder strain) also is dealing with tendinitis in his foot, Girsch said. He is not expected back until close to the end of the month if not later.

UP NEXT

Brewers: LHP Suter (1-1, 6.30) will be making his third start of the season. Suter is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six career games and two starts against the Cardinals.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (1-1, 2.84) has a 1.98 ERA against Milwaukee. That’s the second-lowest mark among active pitchers. He pitched 8 1/3 innings on April 4 at Milwaukee and allowed no runs in a 6-0 St. Louis victory.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — David Peralta hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Dominic Leone in the eighth, A.J. Pollock went deep later in the inning and Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Sunday in a game marred by a benches-clearing incident in the second inning.

Arizona opened the season with three straight series wins for the first time, and its 7-2 start matched the franchise best accomplished four previous times.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the second inning. Lovullo was arguing a called third strike on Pollock and got into a shouting match with St. Louis catcher Yadi Molina during the argument with Timmons. Molina appeared to lunge at Luvollo and made contact as players ran onto the field.

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny stepped between Molina and Lovullo.

With three losses in its last five games, St. Louis dropped to 4-5.

Arizona also started 7-2 in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2017.

Yoshihisa Hirano (1-0), a 34-year-old Japanese right-hander who agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract in December, pitched a perfect seventh for his first major league win.

Archie Bradley pitched around Kolten Wong’s leadoff single in the eighth, and Brad Boxberger finished for his fourth save in as many chances, retiring Jose Martinez on a game-ending, double-play grounder.

St. Louis starter Luke Weaver allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, leaving with a 1-0 lead created by Wong’s RBI single in the fifth.

Nick Ahmed hit a tying RBI single off Matt Bowman in the seventh.

Chris Owings singled off Dominic Leone (0-2) starting the eighth and Peralta hit his second home run this season. Pollock followed two batters later with his first.

MAKING MOVES

Arizona recalled INF/OF Christian Walker from Triple-A Reno and optioned RHP Matt Koch to the Pacific Coast League farm team.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: LHP Ryan Sherriff was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a broken right big toe. RHP John Brebbia was recalled from Triple-A Memphis.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Godley (1-0, 1.29) is to open a three-game series at San Francisco against LHP Derek Holland (0-1, 5.40) Godley allowed one earned run in seven innings of a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (1-0, 6.35) is scheduled to start Monday in the first of three games against Milwaukee and RHP Jhoulys Chacin (0-1, 7.00) start for the Brewers. Mikolas hit a two-run homer for his first major league hit in a 8-4 win over Milwaukee on April 2.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Chilly weather at Busch Stadium, hot bat for Jose Martinez.

In the coldest home start in Cardinals’ history, Martinez homered and drove in four runs as St. Louis ended the Arizona Diamondbacks’ four-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory on Saturday.

It was 37 degrees at gametime with a wind chill of 29. The previous recorded low in St. Louis was 38 degrees for the first pitch on April 16, 1961, against Cincinnati.

“When you start thinking about the weather and stuff, you got to go through it,” Martinez said. “You’ve got a game to play. You’ve got to go out there and work and you’ve got to do everything for your team to win.”

Martinez had a three-run homer and also singled in a run. His .357 average and eight RBI are team highs.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “For me, I’m just going to go out there and try to help the team win. Whether it’s a play at first, running the bases or getting a big hit, whatever I’m capable to do I’m going to try and do it for the team.”

Michael Wacha (1-1) outpitched Zack Greinke (0-1) despite matching a career high with five walks in the chilly weather. Four of Wacha’s passes came in the first two innings.

Wacha called it a grind.

“It’s a little different than a hot weather game just with the hands getting a little cold,” Wacha said. “Just really don’t have that good of a feel on the baseball when I gets a little slick out there, but it wasn’t anything too crazy.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said there is no universal tip on beating the cold.

“Everybody has their own routine,” Matheny said. “Everybody has their own routine in the heat to not have the ball so wet from sweat and the same on cold days. You’re using the wisdom of the guys who have been around.”

Both starters went five innings. Dominic Leone and Matt Bowman each pitched a perfect inning of relief for the Cardinals and Jordan Hicks gave up an unearned run in the eighth. Bud Norris struck out the side to earn his first save of the season.

Martinez’s three-run homer capped a four-run third as the Cardinals took a 5-2 lead. Matt Carpenter drove in the other run with a sacrifice fly.

“I thought it was going to hit the concourse and it barely got over the wall,” Matheny said of the homer. “This cold weather I think you kind of anticipate the ball’s not going to carry quite as much, but he had to get all of it for the ball to get out of that part of the park today.”

Marcell Ozuna had three hits and Yadier Molina singled twice for St. Louis. Carpenter singled in the first and has reached safely in all eight of the Cardinals’ games this season.

A.J. Pollock’s single in the first gave Arizona an early lead. He doubled and scored on Chris Owings’ single in the third for a 2-1 lead.

“They grinded all game long pretty good,” Greinke said. “We did, too. It seemed like it was just the one really big play.”

Greinke retired eight straight after surrendering the home run.

“There was a number of base runners on and they capitalized on one swing so you have to give Martinez a little bit of credit,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “From Zack, I thought he battled through those early innings and he had some real easy innings kind of towards the back end of his outing, so I focus on that more than anything.”

MILESTONE WATCH

Lovullo has 99 wins in his first 170 games and is trying to become the fastest active manager to 100 wins, which would eclipse Ron Gardenhire, who needed 173 games in 2002-2003 with Minnesota. Gardenhire now manages Detroit.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: Claimed RHP Troy Scribner off of waivers from Anaheim and designated OF Jeremy Hazelbaker for assignment.

Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson (left hamstring strain) was assigned to Class A Palm Beach for a rehab assignment and is scheduled to pitch Saturday night.

UP NEXT

Arizona RHP Taijuan Walker (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will face RHP Luke Weaver (1-0, 1.80 ERA) in the finale of a three-game set. A snow/rain mix is in the forecast.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Carlos Martinez pitched into the ninth inning and struck out 10, Yadier Molina homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the error-prone Milwaukee Brewers 6-0 on Wednesday night.

Leadoff batter Dexter Fowler scored twice in the first three innings for the Cardinals, who beat their NL Central rivals a night after losing on a game-ending homer by Ryan Braun. St. Louis took two of three in the series.

A 4-0 lead after four innings was more than enough cushion for the hard-throwing Martinez (1-1). The two-time All-Star rebounded from a rough opening-day start last week against the New York Mets by cruising through the Brewers’ dangerous lineup at hitter-friendly Miller Park.

Martinez allowed four hits and two walks. He retired 16 straight before Domingo Santana laced a one-out single in the seventh. The right-hander’s fastball still registered 93 mph in the ninth.

He left with one out after Yairo Munoz, who entered as a defensive replacement at third base, mishandled a sharp grounder by Santana to put runners at first and second.

The Brewers loaded the bases against reliever Sam Tuivailala, but Bud Norris ended the game by getting Manny Pina to hit a soft bouncer in front of the mound for a 1-2-3 double play.

Molina hit a solo shot to left field in the fourth off Jhoulys Chacin (0-1). The right-hander, who signed as a free agent in the offseason, allowed seven hits and six runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Only three runs were earned because of three Milwaukee errors, including two by second baseman Jonathan Villar. His wayward throw to third trying to get Paul DeJong advancing on an infield single eluded Travis Shaw.

DeJong scored to make it a six-run lead.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (left hamstring) will be activated from the disabled list Thursday to start the home opener against Arizona. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said the team decided Wainwright was ready after running him through a final checkup Wednesday morning.

“I think they invented tests for me to try and pass to prove to them that I was ready,” Wainwright said.

Brewers: LHP Wade Miley (left groin) might be able to start throwing off a mound next week, manager Craig Counsell said. … LHP Boone Logan (left triceps) could start throwing off a mound by the end of next week. … C Stephen Vogt (right shoulder) will likely start throwing early next week.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Wainwright will pitch in his 345th career game when he starts Thursday, which would leave him three behind Todd Worrell for eighth place on the team’s career list.

Brewers: LHP Brent Suter opens a four-game series at home against the Cubs. He is 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA over 12 innings in his last two starts against Chicago.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun hit consecutive homers off Dominic Leone with two out in the ninth, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Leone (0-1) retired the first two batters, but then lost Yelich on a 2-2 pitch before Braun whacked the next one for his fourth career game-ending homer.

Dan Jennings (1-0) picked up the victory with a perfect ninth.

Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham opened the game with consecutive homers for St. Louis, and Marcell Ozuna made it 4-0 with a two-run shot in the third. Jack Flaherty struck out a career-high nine while pitching five innings of one-run ball, but the Cardinals’ bullpen lost the lead.

Yelich started Milwaukee’s rally with a two-out RBI single off the glove of shortstop Paul DeJong in the fifth. The Brewers pulled within one on RBI singles for Travis Shaw and Jonathan Villar in the eighth.

Fowler, mired in a 1-for-18 stretch, drove the first pitch from Chase Anderson into the Cardinals’ bullpen for his 24th career leadoff home run. Pham looked at one pitch and then lined the next one over the wall in deep right-center.

Flaherty kept the Brewers guessing with a two-seam and four-seam fastball and a nasty slider in his sixth career start in seventh appearances. He was recalled March 28 from Triple-A Memphis when Adam Wainwright was placed in the disabled list.

Anderson was charged with four runs and eight hits in four innings.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (0-1, 8.31 ERA) makes his second start of the season. He is 5-4 with a 2.18 ERA in 23 career games against the Brewers, including 12 starts.

Brewers: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (0-0, 10.80 ERA) makes his second start of the season. A free-agent signee, he is 0-5 with a 6.10 ERA in six career games against the Cardinals.

— Associated Press —