Cards bash Brewers

Cards bash Brewers

St. Louis takes first two games of series

MLB.com MILWAUKEE — Matt Carpenter continued to bruise Brewers pitching, and Mike Leake capped off a terrific month of May in fitting fashion, as the Cardinals rolled to a 10-3 victory over the Brewers on Tuesday. The win sealed the Cardinals' 10th consecutive series victory at Miller Park.

The Cardinals ambushed scuffling Brewers starter Wily Peralta with four consecutive hits to open the game. That pushed across two runs, and Peralta would fail to finish six innings for the ninth time in his 11 season starts.

Carpenter was a particular nuisance, as he notched his second straight four-hit game and scored four times. Three of his hits went for extra bases, including RBI triples in the seventh and eighth innings. He missed hitting for the cycle by a home run.

Leake was stung by a Jonathan Lucroy secondinning homer that temporarily pulled the Brewers to within one, but limited much additional damage by holding Milwaukee to one hit (an RBI double by Ryan Braun) with runners in scoring position. The victory capped off a stellar month for Leake, who posted a 2.31 ERA over his six May outings. The Cardinals won five of those games.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Top-heavy: A day after the top three hitters in the Cardinals' lineup combined to go 9-for-15 with six runs scored, the same three tallied eight hits and scored five runs in Tuesday's win. Carpenter became the first Cardinals player since Jim Edmonds in 2003 to notch consecutive four-hit games. He also scored a career-high four runs, including two on RBI singles by three-hole hitter Matt Holliday.

Between the two, Aledmys Diaz posted his second straight multi-hit game and reached base three times.

May I?: Lucroy capped off a torrid month at the plate on Tuesday by going 2-for-3 with a solo home run, double and two RBIs.

To lead off the second inning, Lucroy took a 1-2 sinker up in the zone from Leake and deposited it into the Crew's bullpen. It was his ninth homer in May, second among all National League batters. On the current homestand, he is 9for-17 with three dingers and 10 RBI.

Jenifer Langosch has covered the Cardinals for MLB.com since 2012, and previously covered the Pirates from 2007-11.

Curt Hogg is a reporter for MLB.com based in Milwaukee. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

By Jenifer Langosch and Curt Hogg