ST. LOUIS -- On a night where St. Louis honored one of baseball's greatest hitters, Stan Musial, it won with young pitchers overpowering Milwaukee bats.

Starter Shelby Miller allowed one hit over seven innings Friday as the St. Louis Cardinals turned Kyle Lohse's return to town into a losing one, blanking the struggling Milwaukee Brewers 2-0.

Miller (2-0) allowed a leadoff single to Norichika Aoki and nothing else, fanning a career-high eight and retiring the last 17 batters he faced. It was the third career start for Miller, who won last year's final regular-season game and replaced Lohse in the rotation.

Trevor Rosenthal worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Mitchell Boggs stranded the potential tying runs the ninth for his second save as St. Louis (6-4) won its third straight game, moving into first place in the National League Central.

Lohse (0-1), who signed with Milwaukee as a free agent on March 25, scattered six hits and walked none in seven efficient innings, tossing just 82 pitches. But he allowed an RBI single to David Freese in the second and a solo homer to Yadier Molina in the seventh.

Lohse worked quick, efficient innings, throwing 11 or fewer pitches in every inning but the second and seventh. He found trouble in the second when three straight Cardinal hits -- the last Freese's grounder up the middle -- produced the game's first run, but escaped further damage by inducing a 6-4-3 double play off Miller's bat.

But the hard-throwing Miller more than made up for it by blowing fastballs by Brewer batters. Touching 94 mph with his four-seam fastball, Miller struck out the side in the first after Aoki's hit.

The 22-year old whiffed Ryan Braun twice and allowed two balls out of the infield after Aoki's hit. Miller threw 113 pitches, 87 for strikes, and might have had a chance to work another inning had Milwaukee not fouled off 40 of his offerings.

It was the seventh loss in eight games for the Brewers (2-7).

NOTES: Milwaukee third baseman Alex Gonzalez left the game in the bottom of the third inning with a left hand contusion after getting plunked by a second inning pitch. He was replaced by first baseman Blake Lalli, with Yuniesky Betancourt moving from first to third. ... St. Louis honored the late Stan Musial before the game as members of his family threw out ceremonial first pitches. The teams also played with baseballs stamped with Musial's number 6 on them. ... The Cardinals' second inning run was their first in that inning this year.