Cardinals 10, Brewers 1
MILWAUKEE - The St. Louis Cardinals finished off a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday with a 10-1 victory at Miller Park.
Brewers starter Marco Estrada managed to escape the first inning unscathed after allowing a leadoff single by Jon Jay and a walk to Shane Robinson, but couldn't recover in the second, when he walked four and hit a batter before Allen Craig's bases-loaded double gave St. Louis a 5-0 lead.
Craig scored on a Yadier Molina base hit to make it 6-0.
Estrada retired four of the next five batters before Robinson opened the fourth with a base hit and scored on Matt Holliday's fifth home run of the season.
Estrada's day was over after just 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander was charged with eight runs on six hits and five walks with five strikeouts, a hit batter and a home run. In his last three outings, Estrada is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA.
While Estrada struggled, his counterpart, Jamie Garcia, rolled along. The St. Louis left-hander gave up eight hits and walked one, but held the Brewers to just one run while striking out three over eight innings.
In two starts against the Brewers this season, Garcia is 1-0 and has allowed just one run in 15 innings of work. For the season, Garcia is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and has allowed just three runs in his last three starts, spanning 21 2/3 innings.
Garcia's only challenge came in the fifth.
Carlos Gomez led off that inning with a double and scored on Alfredo Figaro's first career base hit. With two outs, Jean Segura and Ryan Braun loaded the bases with back-to-back singles, but Aramis Ramirez struck out swinging, ending the Brewers' threat.
The Cardinals added an insurance run in the eighth when Molina singled with the bases loaded against Milwaukee's John Axford.
NOTES: St. Louis had never swept the Brewers in a four-game series before Sunday. The Cardinals are 6-1 against Milwaukee this season and have outscored the Brewers, 42-17. ... Milwaukee honored the 1913 American Association champion Brewers with throwback uniforms. The Cardinals also wore uniforms modeled after their 1913 team, which finished 55-88, last in the National League. ... Jay returned to the leadoff spot Sunday after reaching base eight times in the first three games of the series. Jay reached four times, singling twice and getting hit by pitches twice. ... Gomez doubled to lead off the fifth inning, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, tying a career-high.
