ST. LOUIS _ The Cardinals' season reached the halfway point with their 81st game Sunday. Finally, after four series sweeps on the road, they completed one at home.
It took 6 hours, 3 minutes from the scheduled 1:15 start time to the finish, but the Cardinals wrapped up a three-game dusting of the Milwaukee Brewers. They desperately held on for a 9-8 win that was delayed an 1 hour, 20 minutes in starting and 55 minutes more in the seventh inning when hard rain resumed.
Stephen Piscotty's grand slam, his 10th homer of the season, proved to be the decisive blow in the sixth as the Cardinals moved eight games behind the Cubs in the National League Central Division for the first time since May 25.
"Stephen really coming through for us with the big grand slam to give us a little more room. We needed every inch of it," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.
Piscotty said the game went so long that he had to eat during the game to stay energized. "I only had breakfast before the game started," he said. "I was getting real hungry."
But he said hadn't eaten again before the home run. "So maybe there's something to staying hungry," he said.
Piscotty said the feeling after hitting the grand slam was "tough to put into words. But it's a special thing, especially when you come around first base and you hear the crowd start to roar and the fireworks go off.
"It's a fun trip around the bases."
Michael Wacha went five innings, just long enough for him to post his third straight win. Trevor Rosenthal, trying to get through the seventh, retired no one for the fourth time this season and had to be rescued by Matt Bowman.
The same thing happened to Sam Tuivailala in the ninth. Tuivailala loaded the bases, forcing manager Mike Matheny to call for Seung Hwan Oh, who unloaded them with a bases-loaded walk and a two-double by Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
With the tying runs on base, Oh then wriggled out of the mess, with just one more run scoring on a groundout.
