ST. LOUIS, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Ryan Braun's 38th homer of the year in the top of the 13th inning Friday put Milwaukee ahead and the Brewers held on for a 5-4 win over St. Louis.
Facing a 1-1 count with one out, Braun parked a 78 mph Lance Lynn curve ball in the left field seats for the go-ahead run after the Brewers had coughed up a two-run lead in the eighth inning.
John Axford came on in the bottom of the 13th and got two outs before walking Lance Berkman. He then got Daniel Descalso to fly out to center to end the game and record his 26th save.
The win went to Brandon Kintzler (1-0), who gave up two walks but no runs in his one inning of relief. Lynn (13-7) was tagged with the loss.
St. Louis had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Matt Carpenter and a sacrifice fly by Allen Craig that drove in Carpenter.
Milwaukee got one back in the fourth when Rickie Weeks singled and later scored on a Taylor Green groundout, and tied it up in the seventh when Martin Maldonado walked, went to third on a Jeff Bianchi single and came home on a Travis Ishikawa double.
RBI singles by Carlos Gomez and Maldonado in the eighth put the Brewers up 4-2, but the Cardinals came back in the bottom of the frame on Yadier Molina's two-out, two-run homer to make it 4-4.
