ST. LOUIS _ That bad juju that had apparently enveloped the St. Louis Cardinals over the last month at Busch Stadium?
The Milwaukee Brewers saw absolutely no sign of it on Friday night.
Struggling as they usually do at this venue, they fell victim to a five-run fourth inning keyed by Matt Garza's throwing error and never recovered in a 7-1 loss on Friday night.
The Brewers dropped to 2-5 this season against the Cardinals, who came into the game in the midst of a seven-game home losing streak _ their longest since 1983 _ and on the heels of their first losing month (13-14) since July 2012.
Garza, making his fourth start since being reinstated from the disabled list, was hit hard. In 52/3 innings, he surrendered a season-high nine hits, seven runs (four earned) and three walks while striking out six.
His counterpart, left-hander Jaime Garcia, continued to baffle the Brewers. Other than a second-inning home run surrendered to Chris Carter, Garcia was mostly untouchable as he allowed just one hit _ a seventh-inning single to Jake Elmore _ from the third through the eighth.
Garcia (6-6) allowed four hits and four walks to go along with six strikeouts as he upped his career record to 11-5 against Milwaukee.
The Cardinals jumped on Garza quickly, as Matt Carpenter opened with an infield single and came in to score one batter later on Aledmys Diaz's double to left.
The Brewers got the run back in the second when Carter homered to straightaway center off Garcia on the first pitch. It was Carter's 20th homer of the season.
The game remained tied until the fourth, when St. Louis exploded.
Jhonny Peralta started things off with a single, and Matt Adams followed with a sharp chopper back to the mound. Garza knocked it down, but his underhanded throw to first sailed wide left, allowing Adams to reach on the error.
Yadier Molina singled to center to score Peralta to make it 2-1. Garza walked Tommy Pham to load the bases, and then Garcia followed with a single to left to score Adams. Matt Carpenter's single upped the Cardinals' lead to 4-1, and it was lights out after Matt Holliday singled in two runs.
Diaz singled and Holliday doubled him in to chase Garza (1-1) in the sixth after 103 pitches. The Brewers are now 1-3 in games Garza starts.
