Cards top Brewers, take 3-2 lead in NLCS

ST. LOUIS -- In a span of seven weeks, the Cardinals have steadily climbed from 10½ games out of the wild-card spot to one win away from the World Series. In Friday night's 7-1 victory over the Brewers in NLCS Game 5, they used their proven formula again: Tony La Russa's quick hook, a trusted bullpen and timely hitting.

But the biggest help was four errors by the Brewers, who handed them three unearned runs and a 3-2 series edge heading into Sunday's Game 6 at Miller Park.

When Jerry Hairston Jr. let a routine ground ball hit by pitcher Jaime Garcia scoot through his legs for a two-run error in the second, the game got away from Milwaukee, too.

"You know what, when I look back on it, there's nothing I could have done differently," Hairston said. "He hit a rocket, and when it hit the lip , it just stayed down. I had a split-second to react and . . . five-hole."

Yadier Molina had a run-scoring double, Albert Pujols added an RBI single and Garcia drove in another run with a groundout -- all off Zack Greinke -- before Matt Holliday's two-run double blew it open in the eighth.

"I don't want to go back to Milwaukee at all," Holliday said. "But it was a very important game for us. A must-win."

The Brewers scored their run on Corey Hart's two-out single in the fifth as they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks were a combined 1-for-12 with four strikeouts.

La Russa, not a patient manager to begin with, has shown even less of that attribute during this NLCS. He was no different in Game 5, removing Garcia (68 pitches) with two on and two outs in the fifth.

La Russa got what he wanted when Octavio Dotel fanned Braun to end the threat, but history is not on the Cardinals' side. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team has won a postseason series when a starter has failed to pitch more than five innings in each of the first five games, as St. Louis has done in this NLCS.

"I wasn't really thinking that I was going to be in the game in that situation," Dotel said, "because Jaime was throwing a really good game and he had like 60-something pitches."

But the Brewers pulled to within 4-1 in the fifth on Hart's two-out single and were aiming for more when Hairston followed with another hit. With Braun next, La Russa dialed up Dotel, who has been like Kryptonite for the MVP candidate.

Braun had whiffed seven times in nine previous at-bats against Dotel, and La Russa, sensing the tipping point in the game, didn't hesitate. In came Dotel and down went Braun, who struck out on six pitches.

"I'm just lucky against him -- what can I say?" Dotel said. "I would love to be the same lucky when this series is over."

Hairston had been an unexpected October hero for the Brewers, starting all 10 games at third and batting .371 (13-for-35) with five doubles, four RBIs and six runs scored. Before Game 5, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke praised Hairston, a midseason acquisition from the Nationals.

"Defensively, he's playing great at third," Roenicke said.

But a few hours later, the ball found Hairston twice in a pivotal second inning. After Molina's RBI double put runners at second and third, Hairston saved at least one run with a diving catch of Nick Punto's line drive.

Garcia then punched a routine ground ball directly to Hairston for what should have meant inning over. Instead, the ball skipped between his legs.

When Greinke wound up with the ball near the plate, he spiked it in frustration, and it caromed back up and hit him in the chest.

"That was about the pitch to Garcia," Greinke said. "I wanted to get him out."