MLB capsules: Brewers sweep Cards

National League

Brewers 8, Cardinals 4

ST. LOUIS -- Braden Looper carried a two-hitter into the seventh inning and Mat Gamel hit a three-run homer in his first career start as Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep of St. Louis with an 8-4 victory Monday night.

Jason Kendall of the Brewers became the eighth full-time catcher to reach 2,000 hits.

Milwaukee has won 12 of 14 overall and 10 of 11 over the Cardinals the last two seasons. They won their sixth straight hours after learning Rickie Weeks will miss the rest of the season with a wrist injury.

Craig Counsell, who replaced Weeks in the leadoff spot and at second base, was 1 for 6.

Kyle Lohse (3-3) working on two days' rest after working two innings in Friday's rainout, trailed 4-0 after four innings. Colby Rasmus and Skip Schumaker hit two-run homers in the seventh for St. Louis.

Looper (4-2) gave up three hits and three runs, one earned, in 6-plus innings. He is 62-60 for his career but is 21-13 with a 3.52 ERA at Busch Stadium.

Rockies 5, Braves 1

ATLANTA -- Colorado's Jason Marquis outdueled Atlanta's Derek Lowe in front of the smallest paid crowd at Turner Field since the stadium opened in 1997.

Marquis (5-3) scattered five hits and allowed one run in eight innings to end a two-start losing streak.

Lowe (5-2) was attempting to become the NL's first six-game winner. He allowed two runs, three hits and one walk in eight innings, losing for the first time in five starts.

Colorado had lost three out of four and seven of 10.

The Braves have lost two straight and three of four. Atlanta dropped to 6-11 at Turner Field in front of 15,364.

Dexter Fowler, who gave Colorado a 1-0 lead in third with an RBI groundout, doubled leading off the sixth and made it 2-1 on Todd Helton's fielder's choice grounder.

The Braves tied it in the sixth on a double-play grounder by Casey Kotchman.

The Rockies scored three runs in the ninth.

Pirates 12, Nationals 7

WASHINGTON -- Washington made four errors -- all on routine plays -- and the bullpen had another lead-blowing implosion in the loss to Pittsburgh.

A five-run sixth inning led Pittsburgh to its third straight win and ended an eight-game road losing streak.

Ross Ohlendorf (5-3) won despite allowing four extra-base hits in a five-run fifth. Craig Monroe hit a three-run homer, and Jack Wilson got four hits for the Pirates.

Washington has lost five straight despite scoring at least five runs in every game. The Nationals entered the game with 37 errors, five more than any team in the majors.

Washington reliever Garrett Mock (0-2) had a walk, a wild pitch, a hit batter and allowed Wilson's game-tying two-RBI double in 15 pitches in the sixth.

Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman hit back-to-back homers in the fifth for the Nationals, extending Zimmerman's streak in reaching base safely to 36 games.

American League

Rays 13, A's 4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Jason Bartlett drove in a career-high five runs and Tampa Bay beat struggling Oakland 13-4 on Monday night for a season-best four-game winning streak.

Rookie Jeff Niemann (4-3) allowed four runs and eight hits in eight innings to win for the fourth time in his last five decisions. He struck out three and walked none in the longest outing of his career.

Bartlett went 3 for 3 with a walk to raise his batting average to .384. He had a two-run single off Sean Gallagher (1-2) in the first, as well as a run-scoring triple in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth.

The A's, swept at Detroit last weekend, have been outscored 47-13 during a four-game losing streak in which their starting pitchers have yielded 31 runs (23 earned) in 13 innings.

Yankees 7, Twins 6

NEW YORK -- Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate, combining with Alex Rodriguez for back-to-back drives in a six-run first inning and New York completed a four-game sweep of Minnesota.

After stringing together three straight walk-off wins for the first time since 1972, the Yankees overcame a 2-0 first-inning deficit and hung on to extend their winning streak to a season-high six.

Andy Pettitte (4-1) won consecutive starts for the first time this year, allowing four runs and 12 hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Justin Morneau had four hits and Michael Cuddyer and Denard Span homered for the Twins.

Glen Perkins (1-3) lasted just nine batters and got two outs, allowing six runs and seven hits. Minnesota dropped to 4-12 on the road but is 14-9 at home.