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MIL@STL: Aramis lines RBI single off Westbrook's foot

ST. LOUIS -- Yovani Gallardo's struggles against the Cardinals continued on Friday night.

The right-hander got roughed up in an eight-run third inning that led to the Brewers' 13-1 loss at Busch Stadium, marking his ninth loss in 13 regular-season starts against the Cards.

"I just fell behind in the count and left pitches up in the zone," Gallardo said. "When I did get a ground ball, it just seemed to find a hole somewhere. That one up the middle [by David Freese] hits the bag. That's how that whole inning went. It just fell apart after that. It just seemed like you make a good pitch and get a ground ball, but it goes through the hole, and then you make a mistake up in the zone and it ends up being an extra-base hit."

Gallardo, who also lost to St. Louis in the National League Championship Series in October, has lost five consecutive regular-season starts against the Cardinals. He allowed eight runs -- all earned -- on eight hits in two-plus innings on Friday.

"Location was not good," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "His stuff was a little bit down, but he wasn't locating the ball at all. He left his breaking pitches up. His fastballs were a lot of them down the middle. They hit the ball hard and it went in. They hit the ball soft and it went in. Everything went wrong."

Gallardo fell to 1-2 on the season, with his ERA rising from 3.65 to 6.08, as the Brewers fell to 9-11. The ace is now 1-9 with a 7.05 ERA in his career against St. Louis.

Neither clubhouse had many answers to explain Gallardo's struggles against the Cardinals over the years.

"You can't put your finger on something like that," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "That's just sometimes how it works. He's a very good pitcher. The guys just went up with a good approach today."

Skip Schumaker said: "I'm not sure because he's really good. I don't know. I can't tell you. The guy has plus pitches, and we're just lucky to put together that one big inning or whatever it is. He's really tough. Maybe some guys in here like him. I don't like facing him at all."

The Brewers actually got off to a good start with a run and three hits in the first inning off Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook.

Nyjer Morgan and Ryan Braun delivered one-out singles before Aramis Ramirez smacked a single off of Westbrook's foot that bounced into right field -- allowing Morgan to score from second base.

Ramirez's RBI snapped a streak of eight straight games in which the Brewers' opponents had scored first.

But that was the last time the Brewers would score against Westbrook (3-1), who allowed just four more hits in the remainder of his seven innings.

"We scored one and we have a good chance to score another and when he gets out of that he's on a roll and he's throwing the ball down in the zone well," Roenicke said. "He's got the great sink on the ball. He gets ground balls when he needs to. He's throwing the ball real well."

The Cardinals (13-7) answered Milwaukee's first-inning run with a two-run triple by Schumaker in the second inning, then broke the game open with eight runs in the third.

Carlos Beltran and Freese had RBI singles. A two-run double by Matt Carpenter made it 6-1 and chased Gallardo from the game. Reliever Mike McClendon couldn't stop the rally as Schumaker greeted him with an RBI single. Jon Jay had a two-run single and Matt Holliday added an RBI single to make it 10-1.

Jay and Holliday also had back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth inning. Yadier Molina made it 13-1 with an RBI double in the eighth off reliever Tim Dillard.

This obviously wasn't the way the Brewers, who are now 0-4 in Friday games this season, wanted to start a nine-game, 10-day road trip through St. Louis, San Diego and San Francisco.

Milwaukee will also have to figure out how to get Gallardo back to the form he's shown against everybody not wearing a Cardinals jersey.

"I've been feeling good," Gallardo said. "I've been throwing the ball good. Then you have a game like this. It's very frustrating. It sucks. Obviously, I know it keeps getting old, but there's not much you can do now. You have to prepare for the next one and work on the things I need to work on."

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