ST. LOUIS _ The St. Louis Cardinals have had trouble winning at home this season, but there was no way to see this one coming.
Despite having to face longtime tormentor Jaime Garcia, the Milwaukee Brewers unleashed a relentless attack Thursday night to pummel the Cardinals, 12-5, at Busch Stadium.
One of the big mysteries of the Cardinals' season has been their inability to get on track at home, where they fell to 30-38. But they had to feel good starting Garcia against a team he dominated for so long, posting an 11-5 record and 2.61 earned run average in 20 career games.
In three previous starts against the Brewers this season, Garcia was 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA. But, on this night, he was thrashed, allowing eight hits and five runs in 32/3 innings in a game in which the Brewers' were relentless.
It was quite a turnabout for the Brewers, who were 4-11 against the Cardinals this year while averaging 2.47 runs per game, and 28-59 against St. Louis since the start of the 2012 season.
The Cardinals wasted no time jumping on Brewers starter Junior Guerra for a run in the first inning. Matt Carpenter led off with a double to right-center, moved to third on Jedd Gyorko's infield hit and scored when Stephen Piscotty lifted a sacrifice fly down the right-field line, Domingo Santana fielding it in foul territory.
With two down in the second inning, the Brewers took the lead with two swings of the bat. Santana crushed a 1-0 offering from Garcia far over the fence in center for his seventh homer and Orlando Arcia hit the next pitch the other way and out to right for his third homer.
The Brewers came after Garcia again in the third and scored two more runs. Guerra got it started with a double to right-center, and moved to third on Keon Broxton's one-out infield hit up the middle. After Broxton stole second, Ryan Braun grounded out to short, scoring Guerra.
When Hernan Perez followed with a RBI double to right-center, the Brewers had a 4-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Guerra was working in and out of trouble. He escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the second primarily because catcher Martin Maldonado picked Randal Grichuk off second base (the Brewers successfully challenged a "safe" call).
With one down in the bottom of the third, Gyorko lifted a pop fly into shallow center and as three defenders closed in on it, Perez muffed it for a two-base error. Piscotty's single to left moved Gyorko to third, but Guerra induced Yadier Molina to ground into a double play to escape.
Garcia's problems continued in the fourth and he did not survive the inning. With one down, Orlando Arcia singled to center and Maldonado doubled to left-center, moving him to third. Guerra went down swinging but the wild pitch eluded Molina, allowing Arcia to score.
When Jonathan Villar followed with a walk, that was all for Garcia.
Guerra appeared in good shape with the 5-1 lead, especially after he retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the fourth. But he walked Jhonny Peralta for the second time and then served up a two-run homer to Kolten Wong on a 0-2 pitch, allowing St. Louis to close within two runs.
But the Brewers would not let up. Carter made it 6-3 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and the visitors broke open the game with six runs in the sixth against relievers Mike Mayers and Dean Kiekhefer. Maldonado got it started with a two-run homer to left, Braun delivered a run with a sacrifice fly, Perez doubled in a pair of runs and Santana capped the outburst with a RBI single.
Guerra collected his second hit in that inning and gave way to a pinch-runner, reliever Michael Blazek. Guerra allowed six hits and three runs in five innings before departing.
