Randy Wolf pitched eight sharp innings and the Milwaukee Brewers jumped on Jake Westbrook early to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday night, giving the NL Central leaders their 13th win in 14 games. Prince Fielder had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and an RBI double in the third to help the Brewers open a five-game cushion on the second-place Cardinals. Milwaukee clinched only its fifth road series win of the season and will try for a sweep tonight. The Brewers have taken four of five from St. Louis this month. Phillies 9, Dodgers 8: Ryan Howard and Hunter Pence homered as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame an early six-run deficit and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game sweep. The Phillies won for the 12th time in 13 games and completed a 9-1 road trip. They improved baseball's best record to 77-40 —Philadelphia is 37 games over .500 for the first time since 1977. Down 6-0 after three innings, the Phillies rallied and eventually scored four times in the sixth for a 9-7 lead. Howard's 25th homer was a tiebreaking, two-run shot with two outs. Pirates 9, Giants 2: Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run homer, Jeff Karstens bounced back from his worst start of the season and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their first series in three weeks with a victory over the San Francisco Giants. The Pirates took two of three from the reigning World Series champions on the heels of a 10-game losing streak. Pittsburgh was off before opening a weekend series at NL Central-leading Milwaukee. The Brewers have won all five previous meetings. In other games it was: Braves 6, Marlins 2; Reds 3, Rockies 2; Padres 9, Mets 5; Cubs 4, Nationals 2.
