Lackey, Cardinals blank Brewers

St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - John Lackey tossed seven scoreless innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 in the rubber match of a three-game series on Thursday.

Lackey (1-0) gave up five hits while striking out eight and walking one for the Cardinals, who have won four of five. Jordan Walden and Matt Belisle each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

"His stuff just keeps getting better to me," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said about Lackey. "So far, this season I really like the way he's throwing the ball."

Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter, Mark Reynolds and Matt Holliday had one RBI apiece for St. Louis, which pounded out 11 hits.

Mike Fiers (0-2) allowed two runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings for the Brewers, who fell to 2-7 on the young season. The right-hander struck out four and walked one.

The Brewers left men on first and second in the third, fourth and fifth.

The Cardinals scored a pair of runs in the sixth to break a scoreless tie. Carpenter doubled to right-center field and crossed the plate on Holliday's single up the middle. Holliday stole second, moved to third on Jhonny Peralta's single and raced home on Reynolds' double to center. On the play, Peralta was thrown out at the plate.

"I hate when he comes up," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said about Holliday. "He's gotten a lot of big hits off us over the years. Behind him, (Jhonny) Peralta is swinging a great bat. There's several guys who are swinging real well over there."

Carpenter doubled home Kolten Wong in the seventh. Molina added an RBI single in the eighth.

Game Notes

The Brewers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight ... The Cardinals continue a six-game homestand with three games against the Reds starting Friday ... Milwaukee heads to Pittsburgh this weekend for three games.