Rasmus singles in 11th to lift Cards over Brewers

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Colby Rasmus singled home the winning run in the 11th inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.

Newly acquired Aaron Miles singled with one out in the 11th and advanced to second on Yadier Molina's base hit to center. Rasmus, who had three hits and three RBIs, laced a shot just in front of outfielder Jim Edmonds. Edmonds held on to the ball with Miles already around third.

The Brewers failed to take advantage with two on and one out in the 11th. Edmonds opened the inning with a double. An error on Miles allowed George Kottaras to reach first, but Mitchell Boggs got Carlos Gomez to fly out, and Rickie Weeks grounded out to end the inning.

Boggs (1-2) pitched one inning to earn the victory, the fifth in six games and seventh in nine for the first-place Cardinals.

John Axford (1-1) took the loss.

Cardinals starter Adam Ottavino allowed a lead-off homer to Weeks but faced just one jam the rest of the way before being pulled after Ryan Braun singled to lead off the sixth. The rookie went five innings, allowed five hits and one walk, striking out two and leaving the game with a 4-1 lead. But Dennys Reyes allowed all three batters he faced to reach, including a single and double on the first two pitches.

Milwaukee pulled to 2-1 when Casey McGehee doubled in Braun. Kyle McClellan didn't give up any hits but Cory Harts' grounder and a sacrifice fly by Kottaras tied the score at 4.

Hart nearly got to Ottavino an inning earlier when the pitcher was barely able to fend off a one-out liner headed toward his face. After getting Kottaras to fly out, Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson hit a ground rule double that would have likely scored Hart if the ball hadn't bounced into the left field stands. Weeks walked to load the bases with two outs, but Ottavino struck out Craig Counsell to end the threat.

Narveson struggled in the first, giving up four runs on three extra-base hits that included a two-run homer by Albert Pujols. It was his first home run at Busch Stadium in 93 at-bats, dating to the season opener. His second longest drought at Busch was 73 at-bats that spread over the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Rasmus drove in two more runs with a double for a 4-1 lead.

Narveson settled down from there, putting the Cardinals down in order in the second and giving up one walk in each of the next three innings. He gave up two more hits in the sixth. Narveson allowed five runs in six innings, struck out four and walked a season-high five.

NOTES: Cardinals 3B David Freese left the game with an ankle injury after he awkwardly touched third base in the bottom of the sixth. Miles, acquired from Double-A Springfield on Tuesday, took Freese's spot. ... Cardinals SS Brenden Ryan was scratched from the starting lineup about an hour before the game as a precautionary measure because of a slight groin injury. ... Weeks has three lead-off home runs this year and has 16 in his career. ... Milwaukee C George Kottaras struggled throwing the ball to second base after warming up the pitcher between innings. One throw went into center field finally settling past CF Jim Edmonds and another bounced twice before reaching the base. The Cardinals also stole two bases against Kottaras, who has caught four of 22 runners attempting to steal ... During batting practice, Hart's drive to left field landed and broke lights inside the "M'' on the Big Mac Land sign. The ball stayed in the base of the "M'' throughout the game.