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ST. LOUIS (AP) -
Bill Hall
, stuck in a third base platoon much of the season because of troubles hitting right-handed pitching, is making his case to
become a full-time player.
Hall homered to snap a late-inning tie for the second straight game, both off right-handers, and the
Milwaukee Brewers
also caught up with
Kyle Lohse
, beating the St. Louis Cardinals and their surprise ace 4-3 for their sixth straight victory Tuesday night.
''You go up there looking for a mistake,'' Hall said. ''It was pretty much the same pitch as last night. I just wanted to
get out there and put the barrel on it.''
Manager
Ned Yost
wanted to restrict his comments to the game about Hall, who has complained more recently about his lack of full-time status.
''I'm not going to talk about the doghouse, I'll talk about his play tonight,'' Yost said before taking questions. ''Big home
run two nights in a row. He's been coming through. Everybody wants those kind of at-bats, that's the mark of a good club.''
Ryan Ludwick
hit the longest home run at 3-year-old Busch Stadium for the Cardinals, who have lost two straight after winning five in a
row. But Lohse tired in the last two innings of an eight-inning outing, squandering a three-run lead and missing a chance
to win his 10th straight decision.
''You just feel like you're in control and it was just a couple of pitches that were just maybe up a little bit,'' Lohse said.
''That's a good team, they took advantage of it.''
The Brewers bunched all but one of their seven hits off the right-hander in the seventh and eighth. They tied the game with
two runs in the eighth on an RBI single by
Rickie Weeks
and a run-scoring single by J.J. Hardy in consecutive at-bats.
They won it by again getting to the Cardinals' beleaguered bullpen, which has absorbed four of the team's last five losses.
St. Louis relievers have 22 losses, tied for most in the majors with the Giants pending San Francisco's late game against
Washington.
''Do you think the bullpen lost this game?'' an irritated manager
Tony La Russa
said. ''Do you think the bullpen lost it yesterday? How many runs did we score? It ain't the bullpen, our team got beat.''
Hall, whose 10th inning homer off
Ryan Franklin
ignited a three-run rally in a 6-3 victory on Monday, hit his 14th homer with one in the top of the ninth off
Kyle McClellan
(2-5). He's batting .179 but with eight homers against righties, losing playing time to left-handed hitting
Russell Branyan
, but has felt better since a recent adjustment to his swing.
''One day it just clicked in the batting cage in Arizona,'' Hall said. ''Now my stance is fine and I'm in a good position
to hit.''
The Brewers have homered in 18 straight games, one off the franchise record set in 1996, totaling 28 in that span.
They have 21 one-run victories, tied with the Cardinals for the most in the majors, and their 57-43 record is the franchise's
best since the 1982 World Series team that lost to the Cardinals went 58-42.
Brian Shouse
(4-1) needed only eight pitches to retire the side in order in the eighth and
Salomon Torres
got three outs for his 18th save in 22 chances.
Troy Glaus
was 0-for-3 with a walk for St. Louis, ending a 10-game hitting streak in which he batted .525 (21-for-40) with five homers.
Ludwick's 22nd homer with one out in the first was a drive estimated at 450 feet to left-center, 4 feet longer than the previous
best by
Scott Rolen
on July 2, 2006 against the Royals.
The top five home run marks at old Busch Stadium are all longer than 500 feet, topped by
Mark McGwire
's 545-foot mammoth clout off Florida's
Livan Hernandez
during his then-record 70-homer season in 1998.
No Brewer reached base until
Prince Fielder
singled up the middle to start the fifth and Lohse had a season-best seven strikeouts.
Jeff Suppan
allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings after being activated from the 15-day disabled list with joint irritation
in his elbow. He had been 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA against his old team since leaving for a free agent deal with the Brewers in
2007.
Suppan allowed two runs on four hits in the first before settling down.
''Tonight I was able to feel good about finishing my pitches,'' Suppan said. ''The first inning I got my pitches up and they
were able to drive them, and then I started getting my pitches down.''
Notes: The Brewers'
Corey Hart
got his first day off since his first All-Star Game. Manager
Ned Yost
said was important for Hart, who played in 97 of the first 100 games, and
Prince Fielder
to get time off because they missed the break. ''It's fun but you just don't get any rest,'' Yost said. ''When it's all said
and done everybody's refreshed and you're still wiped out.'' ... The Cardinals have played a major league-high 38 one-run
games. ... Hall has four homers against the Cardinals and is batting .346 (9-for-26) against them.
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