Edmonds preserves victory

ST. LOUIS -- Tony La Russa was in the dugout cursing the baseball gods when Prince Fielder hit a ball off the end of his bat with the bases loaded that appeared certain to fall.

The St. Louis Cardinals led by a run in the sixth inning, and their manager dreaded more adversity for a team trying to end its second eight-game losing streak of the season. Somehow center fielder Jim Edmonds swooped in, gloving the ball just before it hit the grass, saving a lead and helping the team end the slide with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

"That play Jim Edmonds made is as good of a play as he's made since he's been here," La Russa said. "That ball falls, they've got the lead. The ball gets by him, they've got the lead maybe by two.

"I still don't know how he got there."

Scott Rolen's RBI double in the first gave the Cardinals their first lead in six games, and Albert Pujols' 34th home run -- his first homer since July 25 -- was a two-run shot in the third. Ronnie Belliard added an RBI single in the third for a 4-0 lead, and the bullpen worked four scoreless innings with Jason Isringhausen getting the last three outs for his 29th save.

When shortstop David Eckstein squeezed Kevin Mench's popup to end the game, the relieved home crowd gave the Cardinals a standing ovation. For the first time in a long while, loud music blared in the clubhouse.

"This is kind of new," starter Anthony Reyes said. "It's real nice. I like it. It's kind of like a little weight lifted off our shoulders."

Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets left after one inning because of tightness in a pectoral muscle. Sheets (2-4) has been limited to seven starts this season due to injuries and said he wasn't hurt on a particular pitch.

Sheets said the feeling reminded him of cramping that led to a torn back muscle that ended his season last August.

"It wasn't too bad throwing as much as in between pitches it felt like a cramp in there," Sheets said. "It kind of became eerily similar to last year's cramp that I tried to go through and we all know the rest of that story."

The Cardinals were outscored 54-29 in their losing slump, during which they were swept by the sub-.500 Cubs and Phillies. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Cardinals are the first team in major league history with two eight-game losing streaks in one season while remaining in first place throughout.

They also dropped eight in a row from June 20 through 27, when a 5 1/2-game lead in the National League Central was whittled down to 1 1/2. They had a 5 1/2-game lead when the latest skid began and now lead by 2 1/2.

The Cardinals, coming off consecutive 100-win seasons, hadn't had a pair of losing streaks that lasted eight or more games since 1983, when they dropped eight straight twice.

The Brewers totaled two hits against four relievers, threatening when they loaded the bases in the sixth. But Edmonds' tumbling catch against Fielder ended the inning and bailed out reliever Tyler Johnson.

"It's just one of those plays that really pumps you up," reliever Johnson said. "It was awesome. I'm going to kiss the floor when he walks on it."

The play came not long after David Bell broke up a play at third base with a hard slide into Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein.

"I know David Bell is a hard-playing guy and he was a St. Louis Cardinal one time, but he crossed the line," La Russa said. "When you watch that thing, that's the slide that's real dangerous and has been outlawed."

Replays appeared to show that Bell slid well out of the base line and then popped up in time to catch a leaping Eckstein at third after the shortstop had taken a force throw on a bunt, sending him sprawling.

La Russa called it a "rolling block." Eckstein said he wasn't hurt on the play and wasn't angry at Bell, either, although he had not viewed a replay.

"They said it was perfectly legal," Eckstein said.

Noteworthy

* Mark Mulder, whose 29th birthday was Saturday, begins a rehab assignment from a shoulder injury on Sunday for Class A Quad Cities.