MILWAUKEE -- The St. Louis Cardinals stuck around, at least for one more day.
J.D. Drew homered, Matt Morris pitched seven solid innings and the Cardinals avoided elimination with an 8-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
"Regardless of what we have left or whatever's happened, you've got to keep fighting to the end," Fernando Vina said.
The Cardinals stayed 3½ games behind Chicago in the NL Central race with three games to go. The Cubs, who have four games left, beat Cincinnati 8-0.
"Since you've got a heartbeat, you've got to keep rolling," Vina said. "Unfortunately, it's getting tough for us that we might not make it."
St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games, sweeping the two-game series from the Brewers.
"We're in a really difficult position," manager Tony La Russa said.
The victory gave the Cardinals a 13-3 record against the Brewers.
"Nobody has played us as well as the Cardinals have this year," said Wes Helms, who homered for the Brewers. "Even tonight, we got ahead and they brought out the whooping sticks."
Milwaukee finished 31-50 at Miller Park, tying last season's mark for the worst home record in team history.
The Brewers have a 66-92 record and head to Houston for the final four games. Milwaukee finished at 56-106 last season.
"I thought if we came in here with a change in attitude and a change in focus, it would be good for 12-15 more wins," Brewers first-year manager Ned Yost said. "And, right now we're at 10."
Vina was ejected for arguing a called third strike in the eighth inning. La Russa, who starts a two-game suspension Friday for recent postgame remarks about umpire Jerry Crawford, came out to get Vina away from plate umpire Matt Hollowell.
Morris (11-8) has dominated the Brewers throughout his career, going 10-2 with a 2.37 ERA against them. In three starts against Milwaukee this season, he was 2-0.
Morris allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings. He struck out three. The Cardinals turned two double plays to help Morris, who got stronger as the game progressed.
He retired eight of the last nine batters he faced before turning a 6-3 lead over to the bullpen.
"Nobody wants to go out losing," Morris said as the Cardinals head to Arizona for a season-ending three-game series.
Jason Isringhausen got the final five outs for his 20th save in 23 chances.
Scott Podsednik hit a solo homer off St. Louis reliever Mike DeJean in the eighth, making it 6-4.
Drew, who had three hits and scored three times, hit an RBI double during a two-run ninth.
Matt Kinney (10-13) allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out two.
Kinney is 0-4 in four career starts against the Cardinals. Last Thursday, he lost 13-0 when St. Louis scored seven runs on 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings.
Drew gave the Cardinals a 5-3 lead with a two-run homer in the fifth. Orlando Palmeiro walked and one out later, Drew hit his 15th home run.
Tino Martinez's RBI single off Glendon Rusch in the seventh made it 6-3.
The Cardinals tied it at 3 in the fourth.
With one out, Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria each singled. Rolen scored on Mike Matheny's bloop hit and Morris singled for his third RBI this season.
Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the second when Richie Sexson singled and Helms hit a 465-foot shot to a landing on the third level in left field for his 22nd home run.
The Cardinals made it 2-1 in the third on Palmeiro's double down the right-field line. The Brewers got the run back in the bottom half when Podsednik doubled, stole third and scored on Keith Ginter's grounder.
Notes
Matheny made the 1,000th appearance of his career. The Cardinals catcher has played in 137 games (120 starts) this season. ... Podsednik set a franchise rookie record with his 169th hit, a double in the third. Pat Listach, who won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1992, had 168 hits. ... Terry Porter, the Milwaukee Bucks' new head coach, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... The Brewers finished with an attendance figure of 1,700,354. They had 1,934,207 in 2002.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
