ST. LOUIS _ The Milwaukee Brewers clinched a playoff spot and dealt another blow to the Cardinals' postseason hopes Wednesday, coming away with a 2-1 victory before 40,644 in the series finale at Busch Stadium.
With the series sweep, the Brewers improved to 92-67 and have assured themselves of at least a spot in the NL wild-card game.
The Cardinals (87-72) are off Thursday and return to action this weekend in Chicago with games Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Wrigley Field.
Wednesday's crowd of 40,644 pushed the Cardinals' attendance for the season to 3,403,587. They top the 3-million mark for the 15th consecutive year and for the 22nd time overall. It's the ninth-highest attendance mark in franchise history.
The Cardinals rank third, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, in MLB attendance this season and, with 95.6 percent, are No. 1 in stadium capacity sold.
The Brewers broke on top Wednesday with a run in the third inning. Christian Yelich walked with one out, took third on a Jesus Aguilar hit and scored when Travis Shaw blooped a single to right. On the play, Jose Martinez made a strong throw to Jedd Gyorko at third, cutting down Aguilar as he tried to go first to third.
The Cardinals, who were held without a baserunner by Milwaukee starter Jhoulys Chacin through the game's first three innings, responded in the fourth to even the score at 1. Matt Carpenter led off with a walk and raced to third an out later on a shot past third from Paul DeJong. After Marcell Ozuna walked to load the bases, Jedd Gyorko tied it with a sacrifice fly to left.
On Tuesday night, Gyorko went 0 for 3, leaving the bases loaded twice and stranding eight runners in a 12-4 loss.
In the Milwaukee fifth, after starter John Gant retired Lorenzo Cain to open the inning, lefty Chasen Shreve took for Gant and promptly walked MVP candidate Yelich. Right-hander Dakota Hudson entered and got Aguilar on a tapper in front of the mound, but Shaw followed with another run-scoring bloop hit, this one to left, that put the Brewers back on top again at 2-1.
The home team threatened in the sixth. With one out, Martinez reached on a dropped fly ball by Ryan Braun in left and DeJong was hit by pitch. But Ozuna's liner to second resulted in an inning-ending double play.
With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Carpenter walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Adolis Garcia. Martinez followed with a topper down the third-base line for a hit. The throw from third baseman Mike Moustakas was wild past first, but as Garcia came around third, he fell after losing his balance and was thrown out at the plate on a relay from second baseman Hernan Perex to catcher Erik Kratz.
The Brewers, who stranded eight runners, outhit the Cardinals 5-2, getting two hits and two RBIs from Shaw. Chacin (15-8) and four Brewer relievers combined for the two-hitter, striking out nine, walking three and hitting one man. Jeremy Jeffress finished up, picking up his 17th save.
DeJong doubled with one out in the fourth and Martinez had a two-out infield hit in the eighth for the Cardinals. Gyorko's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the fourth accounted for the Cardinals' run. Lefty Shreve, who came on in relief of Gant in the fifth, walked the only batter he faced and ended up taking the loss, falling to 3-4.
