The St. Louis Cardinals take an important step on the way to what they hope will be a second half spurt that propels them ahead of the National League Central Division leading Milwaukee Brewers, coming from behind to beat the Brew Crew 9-5 Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Milwaukee jumped out to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the 3 rd inning. The Brewers added two more in the 5 th before the Cardinals got their first hit in the bottom of the 5 th . St. Louis got to Yovani Gallardo for 4 hits in the inning, scoring 4 runs to make it a one-run game.
More fireworks were on the way, with the Redbirds exploding for 5 runs in the bottom of the 8 th to take a four run lead over Milwaukee.
Albert Pujols went 2 for 4 at the plate, with 3 runs batted in. David Eckstein had 3 hits in 4 trips to the plate, with an RBI and a run scored.
Ryan Franklin (4-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win. Derrick Turnbow (2-4) gave up 4 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning to take the loss.
With the victory, the Cardinals take 3 of the 4 weekend games against the Brewers and move to within 6 games of Milwaukee.
The Cardinals enjoy an off-day Monday before opening a three game series against the Pittsburgh Prates Tuesday night at PNC Park. The opener has Adam Wainwright (9-8) going for the Redbirds against Paul Maholm (7-12) for the Bucs.
