Major League Baseball

McGehee's 3 homers lead Brewers

Published Aug. 3, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Casey McGehee homered three times and the Milwaukee Brewers rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-5 on Wednesday and add to their NL Central lead.

McGehee hit go-ahead, two-run homers in both the first and third innings and added a seventh-inning solo shot to give Milwaukee its eighth win in nine games at Miller Park. Corey Hart also homered for the Brewers, who extended their lead over the Cardinals to 3 1/2 games in the division.

Rafael Furcal hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs off Randy Wolf (8-8) in his fourth game since being acquired Sunday in a trade with the Dodgers, but new Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson struggled.

Jackson (1-1) made his second start with St. Louis since being acquired in a three-team trade with the White Sox. He gave up 10 runs - eight earned - and allowed 14 hits over seven innings of extended work because of St. Louis' worn-down bullpen following an 11-inning win on Tuesday.

David Freese singled in a run to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the first. Hart homered to start the bottom of the inning and McGehee hit a two-out, two-run home run to make it 3-1.

Furcal's three-run homer - his first in a Cardinals uniform - gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead in the second, but McGehee answered again with another two-run homer in the third to put Milwaukee ahead for good, 5-4. McGehee's second homer was hit so hard that left fielder Matt Holliday never moved to try and chase it.

The Brewers pulled away from there, improving to a majors-best 41-15 at home this season.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina cost St. Louis two unearned runs when Ryan Braun scored on a passed ball in the fifth and George Kottaras scored from third to make it 9-5 after Molina threw a ball into center field trying to catch Hart stealing in the sixth.

McGehee followed with a solo shot in the seventh for the final margin and came out for a curtain call. The third baseman appears to be breaking out of his season-long slump. He's hitting .351 with 12 RBIs over his last 15 games to lift his batting average from .221 to .240.

It was a heated series throughout and could be a prelude of things to come - the teams square off nine more times this season with a three-game matchup beginning Tuesday in St. Louis.

Milwaukee won Monday's opener 6-2 and the Cardinals complained about the LED ribbon scoreboards around Miller Park giving the home team an unfair lighting advantage. The Cardinals took Tuesday's game 8-7 in 11 after bean ball warnings were issued to both benches in the seventh. Furcal saved the game with a catch in the ninth, Molina confronted umpire Rob Drake and was ejected in the 10th and Lance Berkman won it with a two-out hit in the 11th.

Molina and the Cardinals had not heard what discipline the All-Star catcher might receive for his actions with Drake.

Albert Pujols played after being hit by a pitch on Tuesday night near where he broke his left wrist earlier this season. He finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts.

NOTES: McGehee is the 11th player in franchise history to hit three homers in a game. ... The Brewers agreed to terms with LHP Randy Flores on a minor-league contract. ... The Cardinals continue their seven-game road trip with a weekend series in Florida. St. Louis will send RHP Kyle Lohse (9-7, 3.33 ERA) to face Marlins RHP Anibal Sanchez (6-4, 3.74 ERA). ... Milwaukee has Thursday off.

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