St. Louis pulls within seven games of Brewers with wins

~ The Cardinals rallied against the Brewers' closer in the first win.

ST. LOUIS -- Anthony Reyes ended a 12-game regular-season losing streak that began last September, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 on Saturday night to sweep a day-night doubleheader.

Ryan Ludwick's RBI single capped a three-run ninth off closer Francisco Cordero for a 7-6 victory in Game 1. The Cardinals, who trailed by six runs in the third, mounted their biggest rally since coming from six down to beat Milwaukee 10-6 on June 9, 2006.

The Brewers have lost four of five, shaving their NL Central lead to 11/2 games over the Cubs with the Cardinals seven back in third place. Milwaukee is 21-31 on the road, losing 10 of their last 13, to go with an NL-best 36-17 at home.

Reyes (1-10) was recalled from Class AAA Memphis earlier in the day by the pitching-poor Cardinals. He avoided first-inning trouble that has dogged him all year and needed only 67 pitches to get through six innings, allowing two runs on two hits.

Jim Edmonds had a two-run single and Scott Rolen had an RBI double in a three-run first off Chris Capuano (5-7) that could have been much bigger without Albert Pujols' double-play ball. Capuano allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings and is 0-7 with a 6.16 ERA in 12 starts since May 7, after going 5-0 with a 2.31 ERA in his first seven outings.

Reyes, who dominated the Tigers while pitching into the ninth in Game 1 of the World Series, won his first regular-season game since Sept. 3, 2006, against the Pirates. His start this year tied a franchise record for futility with Kid Carsey, who began the 1898 season 0-10.

Geoff Jenkins had a sacrifice fly in the second and Corey Hart hit his 16th homer in the sixth for the Brewers, who trailed 3-2 before RBI singles by Pujols and Juan Encarnacion in the seventh off Matt Wise put the Cardinals ahead 5-2.

Ryan Franklin worked two hitless innings and Jason Isringhausen finished for his 20th save in 22 chances.

Ryan Braun was 3-for-4 with his 18th homer and three RBIs in the opener for Milwaukee. He was 0-for-4 in Game 2, but is 12-for-28 with three homers and seven RBIs with one game to go on an eight-game trip. Rookie Manny Parra pitched six strong innings and hit a two-run double in his first career start.

Braun thought the Brewers, up 6-0 in the third inning, might have relaxed.

"I feel like recently we've had quite a few games similar to this when we score early and then we kind of let our guard down a little bit," Braun said. "We can't do that anymore."

Cordero (0-4) has 32 saves in 37 chances, and all five blown saves have come on the road. He has a 0.33 ERA at home and an 8.62 ERA on the road, and has been saddled with a blown save and loss in his last two appearances after giving up two runs in 1 1/3 innings Thursday in Cincinnati.

Cordero declined to talk to reporters through a team spokesman.

"Good hitting," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "He's one of the best closers in baseball this year."

Russ Springer (5-1) pitched the ninth for the Cardinals, who had lost four in a row to the Brewers by a combined score of 35-5 but benefited from six innings of one-hit ball from the bullpen.

"I think we got what we deserved," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said after Game 1. "It was a tough start but we didn't get discouraged."

Brian Falkenborg replaced an ineffective Brad Thompson and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. He allowed one hit in three innings.

Pujols and Rolen also had RBIs in the ninth before Ludwick's game-winner.

Encarnacion had three RBI singles for the Cardinals. La Russa was ejected for the first time this season when third base umpire Greg Gibson tossed him for arguing a checked swing strike call that went against pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker in the sixth.