MILWAUKEE -- Adam Wainwright's ankle injury put a damper on Mitch Harris' major league debut for St. Louis and took most of the luster off the Cardinals' 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.
Wainwright was helped from the field by a trainer after injuring his left ankle while stumbling out of the batter's box on his popup to first leading off the fifth inning. He allowed three hits in four shutout innings.
"It's something in the back of my ankle so we'll see what it is on Monday," said Wainwright, who was wearing a walking boot after the game. "Everything right now is just all speculation."
Wainwright will be re-evaluated when the Cardinals return to St. Louis. The Cardinals complete a six-game trip with a Sunday afternoon game at Miller Park.
"It was by far the best I felt this year," Wainwright said. "I really had things working. I started changing arm angles a little bit, working in and out better than I have been and I just was having a lot of fun out there. It reminded me of last year a lot.
"Those strides I was talking about making over the course of the year, I started to make them today. That's the hardest part just knowing I was making such good adjustments, and now I've got a setback."
Harris then tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his first big league game at the age of 29 after serving five years of active duty in the U.S. Navy following his graduation from the Naval Academy.
"It's one of those bittersweet...the last thing I want to see happen to Adam, but I was happy to finally get in there," said Harris, who struck out the first batter he faced.
Matt Holliday hit a three-run drive in the seventh for St. Louis, which has won four in a row. It was Holliday's first homer of the season.
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The Brewers lost for the 10th time in 11 games to fall to 3-15. Every other team in the majors has at least six victories.
Milwaukee scored three runs with two outs in the eighth on an RBI single by Adam Lind and a bases-loaded double by Aramis Ramirez, but Hector Gomez bounced out to third to strand the tying runs.
Matt Belisle (1-0) got five outs for the win and Seth Maness pitched 1 1/3 innings for his first save.
Holliday's 26th career homer against the Brewers put the Cardinals up 5-0. Matt Carpenter, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a fifth-inning single, doubled with one out in the seventh and Jason Heyward drew a walk.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was ejected by plate umpire Dale Scott during the pitching change to Jeremy Jeffress, whose first pitch was hammered over the wall in right-center by Holliday.
"I didn't like his strike zone, so I told him he had a bad night," Roenicke said. "They're calling what they see. Some nights it works out against you and unfortunately, with us, it seems like it's been against us. But we're not playing good baseball and it happens all the way around, where you don't get calls, you don't get breaks, and that's what we're going through."
St. Louis grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second when Kolten Wong had an RBI triple and came home on a wild relay throw to third by shortstop Jean Segura.
Milwaukee right-hander Wily Peralta (0-3) allowed seven hits in six innings in his third consecutive loss. He struck out four and walked two.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (1-1, 1.56 ERA) has allowed one earned run in each of his three starts this season. He is 6-2 in his career against the Brewers, including 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA in six starts at Miller Park.
Brewers: Mike Fiers, who gave up two grand slams in his last outing, has yet to make a quality start in three outings. Fiers, who hit Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton in the face last September, is 0-3 this season with a 6.75 ERA and opponents are batting .333 against him.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: C Yadier Molina, forced out of Friday's 3-0 win over the Brewers after being struck on the right knee guard by a foul tip, was out of the lineup. Tony Cruz started in place of Molina. "We're still hopeful that we're talking a day or so. We'll adjust as we need to," manager Mike Matheny said.
Brewers: With starters Carlos Gomez (CF), Jonathan Lucroy (C) and Scooter Gennett (2B) all on the disabled list, Roenicke has been forced to mix-and-match, using 16 different lineups through the first 17 games. "I guess what it tells you is that, if you're changing all the time, something's not working," Roenicke said.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
The Brewers successfully challenged a call at first base in the sixth inning, negating what would have been the Cardinals' fourth double play. Pinch-hitter Elian Herrera opened with a walk and Jean Segura followed with a bouncer to second. Segura was originally called out on the end of 4-6-3 double play, but the call was overturned after a review estimated at 49 seconds.
Milwaukee also made another challenge on the final out of the game. After an estimated review of 24 seconds, the ruling that Segura was out at first was confirmed. It was the first challenge the Brewers have lost this season after winning the first four.
