Redbirds pick up a timely win

~ St. Louis received key hits and strong relief pitching in a 7-5 victory over Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers decided not to let Scott Rolen beat them. David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds took care of that.

Edmonds doubled twice and had two RBIs, and Eckstein and Rolen each scored twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-5 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, right, headed for the dugout after the Brewers' Corey Koskie struck out in the third inning Sunday in Milwaukee. (Associated Press)

Eckstein scored after both of his singles, while Rolen, who came in with a 14-game hitting streak, went 0-for-2 with two walks and a sacrifice fly.

Brewers manager Ned Yost said there's hardly relief from the Cardinals' onslaught, even with reigning NL MVP Albert Pujols (strained oblique muscle) on the disabled list.

"Eckstein's leading the [National] League in hits, he's setting the table," Yost said. "Then you've got Rolen and Edmonds behind him. Rolen's hitting about everything, and Edmonds is getting timely hits."

So was everyone else.

Every Cardinals batter reached base by the fifth, and the bullpen worked five scoreless innings capped by Jason Isringhausen's 20th save to tie Lee Smith's franchise record 160.

"It's a great accomplishment because I'm from the area," said Isringhausen, who grew up 35 miles from St. Louis in Brighton, Ill.

Josh Hancock (3-2) earned the win in relief, striking out two in 1 1/3 hitless innings.

"The bullpen has been a big strength," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "But the rotation is in a little rut."

Bill Hall had two hits and three RBIs to lead the Brewers, who lost six of 10 on their homestand.

"We kept battling back, going back and forth, they just got the lead and their relievers came in and closed out the ball game," Hall said.

Edmonds' two-run double in the first gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead. After Rickie Weeks homered to open the bottom of the first for Milwaukee, Yadier Molina's solo homer made it 3-1 in the second.

Prince Fielder hit his 10th homer in the bottom of the second to bring the Brewers within a run again, and Juan Encarnacion's RBI ground out in the third made it 4-2.

Hall's 15th homer pulled the Brewers to 4-3, before the Cardinals scored three runs in the fourth.

St. Louis strung together the runs with three hits and a walk off Brewers starter Dave Bush (4-6) that began when center fielder Gabe Gross let Eckstein's single bounce over his glove for an error, allowing Hector Luna to score.

John Rodriguez singled in Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan and Rolen's sacrifice fly scored Eckstein to give the Cardinals a 7-3 lead.

Hall added a two-run triple in the bottom of the fourth to complete the scoring.

Bush was done after four innings, having allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out three.

"Today was just not his day. He was catching the fat part of the plate," Yost said. "He kind of labored right from the onset, got his pitch count up. He just struggled."

Suppan, who was looking for his 100th career win, couldn't hang around long enough for the decision after giving up the five runs and six hits in four-plus innings. He walked five and struck out four, and was pulled when he walked Carlos Lee to begin the fifth.

"There's an old saying, 'You don't get hurt by solo home runs,"' La Russa said. "There's a lot of truth to that."

NOTEWORTHY

* Eckstein went 2-for-5 and has 83 hits to lead the National League.

* Yost was ejected after the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

* Weeks led off the game with a homer for the third time in his career.

* St. Louis is 20-8 in day games, and just 17-17 at night.