MILWAUKEE _ Considering the number of times he's had a game decided in extra innings long after it was out of his hands or he's had a start delayed or interrupted by rain, Tuesday night at Miller Park was set to be rather routine for Michael Wacha.
There was a roof to prevent the rain.
He took care of the rest.
Wacha took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, when a flair single fell in front of center fielder Tommy Pham. Wacha then pressed on for his sixth win of the season as the Cardinals won, 6-1, against the first-place Brewers. At Wacha's back was a home run from Harrison Bader, another from Matt Carpenter, and a punctuation-mark homer from Francisco Pena.
The Cardinals staked Wacha to an early lead with four runs in the second inning. Bader opened the inning with a homer _ his fourth of the season _ and the Cardinals would quickly load the bases with two singles and a hit batter. Carpenter worked a bases-loaded walk, and Jedd Gyorko followed with a two-run single that skipped up the middle and gave Wacha ample room to work.
The right-hander turned the game over to the bullpen in the seventh inning. Wacha (6-1) allowed two hits and walked four, and the one run on his line scored after he was in the dugout. Wacha struck out three as his ERA dropped to 2.71.
