Brewers top Cards to end home slump

The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE -- Ben Sheets took one look at the sparse crowd at Miller Park and figured he'd better do something about it.

"We needed a win at home, because we're packing them in right now," Sheets cracked after leading the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cardinals 6-1 Tuesday night before 12,149 fans.

"You win, they'll come."

Actually, the crowd was an improvement over the 10,684 that showed up Monday night, the smallest crowd in the history of the 3-year-old ballpark.

Sheets rewarded the faithful with eight sharp innings as the Brewers won their first home game under manager Ned Yost.

"I was getting tired of coming in here and talking about losses," Yost said. "It was nice. Our boys have been playing great. We've said all along if we get good solid pitching we'll win our share of the ballgames, and we got it tonight.

"Benny Sheets was phenomenal, did a great job, stayed on he attack, pitched a wonderful ballgame."

The Cardinals were just as effusive in their praise of Sheets.

"He had his curveball working for strikes," Tino Martinez said. "He has a very good fastball, but when his curveball is working, he's that much tougher. You get him an early lead and he's tough to come back on."

The Cardinals were without Albert Pujols, who was scratched from the lineup after testing his bruised right thumb in batting practice.

"We had plenty of team left to win the game if Sheets hadn't been so tough," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He pitched very well."

Sheets (1-2) allowed one run on six hits, walked three and struck out six. He held St. Louis' top four batters hitless in 14 at-bats, with two walks.

The right-hander got ample support from his teammates, who scored six runs on nine hits in four-plus innings against Cardinals starter Garrett Stephenson (1-1).

Both Royce Clayton and Richie Sexson hit their fourth home runs as the Brewers snapped a seven-game home losing streak, including their final three games at Miller Park last season.

John Vander Wal, who started in right field when Jeffrey Hammonds was placed on the 15-day DL with a sprained ankle, doubled home two runs in the first. Clayton hit a two-run homer in the second, and Sexson connected off Stephenson in the third for a 5-0 lead.

Kevin Ohme replaced Stephenson after Geoff Jenkins doubled leading off the fifth. Wes Helms doubled him home to make it 6-0.

The Cardinals broke Sheets' shutout bid with two outs in the seventh when Eduardo Perez hit his first home run, a 425-foot shot to left-center.

The Cardinals put runners at second and third with nobody out following Martinez's double in the second but failed to score.

Martinez was doubled off second base when he tagged on Edgar Renteria's fly to right field, but Scott Rolen held at third base. After the 9-3-4 double play, Sheets got Perez on a groundout.

"Oh, God, that was enormous," Sheets said of the mistake by Martinez. "I mean, second and third with no outs, to get a double play on a fly to the outfield and no runs score? That's easy pitching, I guess, when your fielders do that."

Luis Vizcaino pitched the ninth for Milwaukee.

The latest glitch in the radial roof at Miller Park appeared in the top of the fourth, when loud screeching noises came from the drive mechanism, or bogies, as the five movable panels were closed when a cold front quickly moved in.

The bogies are train-like devices located on the outfield track beam that help open and close the roof, the signature design element of the $400 million ballpark, which has been the subject of scorn and multimillion-dollar lawsuits. It leaked and squeaked for the first two years, and the pivot system was repaired at a cost of $5 million last winter.

Notes: Stephenson and Sheets singled off each other. ... Brewers RHP Todd Ritchie, who left Monday night's game complaining of a fatigued right shoulder, said he felt better and will throw on the side Wednesday. ... Pujols was replaced in the lineup by Perez, who started in right field; Palmeiro moved over the left.