ST. LOUIS — Following a weekend series where they came within a game of sweeping the reigning World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals’ ability to score when chances presented themselves and get outs when needed helped them to a win Monday night over the club that has reigned over their division in recent years.

With runs provided by JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn, the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 in their first visit to Busch Stadium this season. In their first meeting with Milwaukee, which has won the National League Central division in each of the past three years, the Cardinals (21-14) received 5 1/3 innings and one run from starter Kyle Leahy.

Following Leahy's exit, the Cardinals got scoreless outings from George Soriano (2/3 of an inning), JoJo Romero (one inning) and Ryne Stanek (one inning). Closer Riley O'Brien was summoned to make a two-out save, his 10th of the year, in the ninth after Gordon Graceffo surrendered a two-run homer to Brice Turang that scored Jackson Chourio, who went 4 for 4 with a walk in his season debut after beginning the year on the injured list.

For Leahy, his 5 1/3 innings matched his career-high for innings and helped him shave his ERA to 4.93. The right-hander worked around five hits, two walks and a hit by pitch to keep Milwaukee scoreless through five innings. The one run charged to him scored after his exit, and with Soriano on the mound.

The Cardinals jumped out to a lead in the second inning on Wetherholt’s two-out RBI single. The 1-0 lead was widened in the fourth by Herrera. Insurance runs were tacked on by Winn in the seventh and Wetherholt in the eighth.

Herrera makes Crew pay

A scoring chance in the fourth inning set up by some small ball was made the most of by a ball Herrera hit 390 feet to center field.

The frame began with a double Nathan Church pulled to right field and followed with a walk drawn by Pedro Pages. With two runners on base and the Cardinals’ lineup set to wrap around to leadoff hitter Wetherholt, Victor Scott II laid down a sacrifice bunt to set up his former college teammate to hit with two runners in scoring position.

The chance for Wetherholt to add onto a lead he provided came and went before he could see a pitch, as the Brewers chose to load the bases by intentionally walking him and instead pitching to Herrera, who had a single and a pop-up in his first two at-bats.

A patient Herrera took advantage of the Brewers’ choice to pitch to him. He watched a sinker and a cutter miss the strike zone before hammering Chad Patrick’s sinker to center field for a bases-clearing double.

Getting groundouts

Called in from the bullpen to try to neutralize the middle of the Brewers’ lineup with no outs and a runner on first base as the Cardinals held onto a 4-1 lead in the seventh, Romero’s sinker got him the contact to work around a single and a walk.

After allowing a single to Brice Turang that advanced Chourio into scoring position, Romero worked back from a 1-0 count to William Contreras by getting a swing and miss on a back-foot sweeper. He followed that with a sinker thrown at the knees to get a ground ball that led to a double play.

Romero had to work with multiple runners on again following a seven-pitch walk to pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez that brought Andrew Vaughn to the plate.

It took the Cardinals’ lefty one pitch, a sinker thrown at 94.2 mph, to get Vaughn to roll an inning-ending grounder.

Racing to a run

An example of the Cardinals’ aggressiveness to run the bases and the payoffs for taking an extra base could be seen in the third inning when they broke open the scoring with an RBI single from Wetherholt.

Before Wetherholt stepped to the plate with two outs and runners on first and third base vs. Patrick, Winn reached base with a walk to open the inning, but did not advance in the next two at-bats as Church flew out, and Pages struck out. It took a single to center from Scott and Winn’s jump and acceleration to get to third ahead of center fielder Garrett Mitchell’s throw to put him 90 feet away from home.

Wetherholt followed Scott’s single to center field with one of his own.

Burleson’s dive helps out Leahy

Having allowed one Brewer to reach base against him in each of his first three innings of work, Leahy worked around traffic in the fourth and fifth frames that stranded multiple runners on base to end each frame.

Traffic began building on the bases in the fourth inning when Leahy allowed a double and hit a batter with one out. For a moment, the bases filled on a ball Sal Frelick grounded to first baseman Alec Burleson.

On the play, Burleson charged in to field the grounder near the cut of the grass and checked to see where the runners were. Burleson had no other choice but to try to take the out at first base because there was no one covering the base. Burleson and Frelick both sprinted up the line and dove head-first to try and beat one another to beat one another to the base.

Frelick was originally ruled safe, but a challenge initiated by the Cardinals showed Burleson’s glove, which had the ball in it, touched the base before Frelick reached it.

Aided by Burleson’s dive, Leahy escaped the inning three pitches later. A 1-1 sweeper buried in on Rengifo resulted in a groundout.

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