The Cardinals won their fifth straight game with a 4-0 victory over the Brewers on Thursday night. Jason Marquis scattered nine hits and a walk over eight innings to improve to 10-4 on the season. Julian Tavarez put the Brewers down in the ninth to close the deal. The Cardinals have shut out their last two opponents and haven’t allowed a run in 24 innings. The last time St. Louis posted two-straight shut outs was in 1996 when Todd Stottlemyer and Alana Benes did it. At the plate the Cards had to go up against Ben Sheets, who led the National League in ERA (2.28) coming into the game. Sheets was tough, but Albert Pujols, Edgar Renteria, John Mabry and Jim Edmonds were able to drive in runs against him—Edmonds hit his 23rd home run. St. Louis’ lead in the National League Central now stands at 10 games over the Cubs.
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