Brewers look to bounce back against Cardinals Tuesday

(Sports Network) - Veteran southpaw Randy Wolf tries again for his first win since April tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers host the St. Louis Cardinals in the middle game of three at Miller Park.

The Brewers were three outs away from winning Monday's opener, but saw it slip away when Allen Craig's go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth inning capped the Cardinals' 3-2 win.

Matt Carpenter walked to lead off the ninth against John Axford (2-6). After pinch-hitter Lance Berkman and Carlos Beltran flied out, Rafael Furcal reached on an infield single.

Following Skip Schumaker's walk, Matt Holliday snuck a seeing-eye single through the hole on the right side, plating Carpenter and Furcal to tie the score.

Craig then blooped a single into left to bring home Schumaker.

"A lot of smiles in the clubhouse right there, I love how they fight," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "They're not going to be able to keep this offense down. It was one we certainly needed, we had a lot of great at- bats in the ninth. It was just a great all-around team effort."

Jason Motte (4-3) registered the final two outs of the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 ninth for St. Louis, which snapped a three-game skid.

Holliday tallied two hits, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

Axford blew his sixth save of the year for the Brewers, who had won four of their past six.

"I just let it go," Axford said. "I couldn't find anything, fastball, breaking ball. I just felt awful."

Wolf, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, was 2-2 on the season after an 8-3 win at San Diego on April 30, during which he threw five innings and allowed three runs on nine hits.

He's winless in 11 starts and one relief assignment since, however, though his earned run average has dropped slightly from 6.84 to 5.80.

Wolf has pitched six or more innings in eight starts since the last victory and allowed three runs or less five times, but the Brewers have won just three of those games and are 5-12 overall in games in which he's appeared.

He's 8-9 lifetime against the Cardinals, with the most recent matchup coming April 8 in Milwaukee - when he was touched for nine hits and three runs in a 9-3 loss.

St. Louis goes with rookie righty Joe Kelly, who turned 9 years old in the month Wolf was selected by the Phillies.

Kelly was drafted himself as a third-rounder in 2009 and progressed through Single-A and Double-A from 2009-11 before beginning 2012 at Triple-A Memphis.

He was 2.5 with a 2.86 ERA in 12 starts there before heading to St. Louis and debuting on June 10 with a no-decision against Cleveland.

The 24-year-old has allowed three runs or less in all six starts and pitched six innings in four straight outings while allowing a combined 35 hits and 13 runs in 33 1/3 innings.

He's 1-0 in a pair of outings on the road.

St. Louis won two of three games from the Brewers in an April series in Milwaukee, then won two of another three when the teams played at Busch Stadium later in the month.

Milwaukee last won the season series in 2010, 8-7.