Monday night’s 4-0 blanking of the Cleveland Indians marked the 10 Ronnie Harrison Jersey ,000th win in St. Louis Cardinals history.

Number 10,001 might come a bit tougher on Tuesday night.

That’s because St. Louis (41-36) will have to deal with Cleveland ace Corey Kluber in the middle game of the teams’ three-game interleague series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Kluber (11-3, 2.10), who at this point might be a favorite to win his third American League Cy Young Award, is coming off one of his standard dominating outings. In a 12-0 win Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, Kluber permitted just one hit and one walk in seven innings, fanning seven.

Following a rare hiccup in a June 15 loss to Minnesota, which touched him for four hits and four runs in five innings, Kluber was back in form.

“It seems like every five days, you try to come up with something different to say,” Indians manager Terry Francona said to mlb.com. “But his level of consistency is so high that, man, it’s just fun to watch.”

The Cardinals got a taste of Kluber’s level of consistency three years ago on a cold May night in Cleveland, and it went down about as well as a bottle of pesticide. Kluber fanned 18 and walked none over eight innings, ceding just one hit in a 2-0 victory that was the highlight of a 9-16 season hampered by a lack of run support.

That St. Louis lineup bore little resemblance to the one that Kluber will face Tuesday night, just like the Cardinals’ starter bears little resemblance to the one that opened this season pitching at a Cy Young level.

Carlos Martinez (3-4 Logan Cooke Jersey , 3.24) has seen his earned run average double since coming off the disabled list on June 5, failing to make it past the fifth inning in four straight starts. Martinez was pummeled for eight hits and seven runs, five earned, over four innings of an 11-3 defeat Thursday night in Milwaukee.

But St. Louis manager Mike Matheny says Martinez is getting closer to the pitcher that pitched to a 1.62 ERA in his first eight starts.

“I thought his stuff was better last game than his line suggested,” Matheny said of Martinez. “He knows how close he is to getting locked in, so I’m excited to see him pitch tomorrow.”

Martinez, who will face the Indians (43-34) for the first time in his MLB career, has usually delivered shutdown efforts in interleague outings. In 16 career games, 12 of them starts, against American League competition, Martinez is 4-4 with a 1.97 ERA.

The Cardinals became the seventh MLB franchise to reach five figures in victories with a good all-around outing. They held an explosive offense to four hits, scored all their runs with two outs and played a clean game defensively.

“I’d take that every night,” Matheny said. “Give them a zero, give us a few runs and I’ll trust our bullpen. Guys came through with big hits. We did a lot of things right … it was a big day.”

Neither Jesus Aguilar nor Bud Norris wanted to let their team down.

Aguilar succeeded twice.

Aguilar homered to break up rookie Jack Flaherty’s no-hit bid in the seventh inning, then homered again in the ninth to lift the Milwaukee Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Friday night.

Both teams got just three hits. The benches and bullpens briefly cleared in the eighth after Eric Sogard slid into St. Louis shortstop Yairo Munoz, who caught a wide throw on a bunt play in the eighth.

Norris (3-2) started the ninth for the Cardinals by striking out Travis Shaw. But Aaron Jones Jersey , Aguilar followed with an opposite-field drive to right for his 16th home run.

”Don’t get a strikeout. Don’t get a strikeout,” Aguilar said about digging in against Norris. ”That’s why I was kind of overaggressive, I think. I got lucky to hit that pitch.”

Norris, speaking in front of his locker in the subdued Cardinals clubhouse, owned up to the mistake.

”I yanked one pitch, and he hit it,” Norris said. ”That’s the game.”

It was another tough loss for the Cardinals, who have lost nine of the last 12.

”Watching them walk us off, that’s hard,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”Jack did everything he could possibly do.”

Corey Knebel (1-0) pitched the ninth for the NL Central leaders.

With one out in the seventh, Aguilar drove an 83 mph slider from Flaherty into the Brewers’ bullpen in left, where reliever Jeremy Jeffress caught the ball on the fly. A woman who was knitting – it appeared to be crochet, actually – in the front row behind home plate barely flinched as Aguilar connected.

”He got that ball almost off the ground,” catcher Yadier Molina said. ”We’ve got to give him some credit.”

Aguilar tipped his cap to Flaherty.

”He was dominating the strike zone tonight, and I think we got lucky,” he said. ”We tied the game in the moment. It’s a new game J'Mon Moore Jersey , and we’re moving forward, thinking we’re going to win this game.”

Flaherty matched a career high by striking out 13 in seven innings, allowing just one hit. The Cardinals played stellar defense behind him after giving up six unearned runs with a season-high four errors in Thursday’s 11-3 loss to Milwaukee. Munoz robbed Jonathan Villar of a base hit in the fifth with a nice running backhand stab of a liner tailing away from him.

”That was unbelievable,” Molina said of Flaherty’s performance. ”Good pitching, good effort. Everything was working for him. We didn’t hit enough to get him the win tonight.”

Matt Carpenter walked, advanced on a sacrifice by Harrison Bader and scored on Marcell Ozuna’s liner up the middle in the third.

Brewers starter Junior Guerra allowed one run and three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in five-plus innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: INF Paul DeJong (left hand fracture) took batting practice and is anxious to return. ”It looked like he didn’t miss a beat, but we’re going to have to slow down and make sure we’re following the program,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Brewers: LF Ryan Braun missed his second consecutive game after receiving a cryotherapy injection in his troublesome right thumb Wednesday in Los Angeles. … LHP Wade Miley (right oblique strain) made a rehab start for Double-A Biloxi. He went two innings and allowed a run on three hits and struck out three.

QUOTABLE

Each team struck out 15 times and each one seemed to bring consternation with plate umpire Tim Timmons.

”When the pitchers keep putting the balls on the corners, there’s going to be some disagreements,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. ”There were a lot of balls put on corners tonight.”

YOU’RE GONE

Tommy Pham, batting second, was ejected by Timmons after Pham took a called third strike in the first. He continued to bark about it from the dugout before being tossed for the first time in his career. Bader replaced Pham in center field.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (7-2, 2.69 ERA) makes his third start against the Brewers this season. He won 8-4 in his Cardinals debut on April 2.

Brewers: RHP Chase Anderson (5-6, 4.54 ERA) makes his second start this season against the Cardinals. He is 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 10 career outings, including a no-decision April 3 at Miller Park.

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