Cardinals stun Brewers, 7-6

Milwaukee blows 6-0 lead

MILWAUKEE — St. Louis’ power surge handed the sliding Milwaukee Brewers another demoralizing loss.

Now the Cardinals are just one game back from their familiar perch atop the NL Central.

Matt Holliday hit a solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Francisco Rodriguez, completing a comeback from a six-run deficit for a 7-6 win Friday night for St. Louis.

The Brewers have lost six straight games and 10 of their last 11.Friday night will go down as one of St. Louis manager Mike Matheny’s most memorable games.”

Just to be able to keep coming and coming and the intensity, the grit, the fight, that to me is just something you just don’t have every once in a while,” Matheny said.

“I couldn’t be any more proud.”Holliday sent the first-pitch changeup from Rodriguez (3-3) into the left-field seats to break the tie.

The Cardinals hit four homers and cut the sliding Brewers’ lead in the NL Central to one game.

Trevor Rosenthal wrapped up six shutout innings for the St. Louis bullpen with his 28th save, getting two strikeouts after allowing a leadoff single to Aramis Ramirez in the bottom of the ninth.

All-Star setup man Pat Neshek (4-0) tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

“What a job,” Matheny said of his relief corps.It was also a second straight tough loss for the Brewers, who fell 9-1 on Thursday to the Phillies despite Matt Garza taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.