Cards fall to Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- Richie Sexson drove in five runs with his 42nd and 43rd homers in the Milwaukee Brewers' 9-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

The Brewers snapped a six-game skid overall and a seven-game losing streak to the Cardinals, who lost for just the third time in 18 games.

The Cardinals also saw their six-game winning streak end. They began the night tied with the Houston Astros atop the NL Central Division.

Sexson's two-run homer in the first gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead and his three-run shot in the third made it 6-3.

His 43 homers are two shy of the franchise mark set by Gorman Thomas in 1979.

His five RBIs tied a career-high and gave him a career-best 117.

The Cardinals, who got an RBI triple from Albert Pujols in the first, went ahead 3-2 on Edgar Renteria's RBI single in the third following left-hander Bud Smith's first career RBI in the second, a single that scored Eli Marrero from second.

But Smith couldn't hold the lead. After striking out the first two batters in the third, he surrendered consecutive singles to Elvis Pena and Jeromy Burnitz before allowing back-to-back homers to Sexson and Jose Hernandez that gave Milwaukee a 6-3 lead.

Hernandez's 25th homer is the second-most by a Brewers shortstop, behind Robin Yount's 29 that he hit in 1982.

Smith (6-3), who was working on 10 days' rest and allowed six earned runs on six hits in three innings, was replaced by T.J. Mathews, who gave up three runs on five hits in his one inning of work.

Mathews surrendered a run-scoring double to Jesse Levis, an RBI single to Devon White and a sacrifice fly to Burnitz that made it 9-3.

The Cardinals pulled to 9-5 on Jim Edmonds' two-run homer, his 29th, off Jamey Wright in the fifth.

J.D. Drew hit a solo shot off Mark Leiter in the seventh to make it 9-6, and then hit another -- his 26th-- off Chad Fox in the ninth.

Wright (11-12) won despite allowing five earned runs on eight hits in five innings. Fox got the final three outs for his second save.