ST. LOUIS, MO (WTAQ) - The St. Louis Cardinals took control of the NL Championship Series with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday night at a rainy Busch Stadium.

The Redbirds scored all four of their runs in the first inning off Yovani Gallardo – who set a new LCS record with three wild pitches.

The Cardinals’ first 5 hitters all reached base as they batted around in the first. Jon Jay, Albert Pujols, and David Freese all hit RBI doubles, two of which slipped by Brewers’ outfielders. And Yadier Molina drove in a run on a double-play grounder.

Milwaukee came back with 2 runs in the second on a single by Yuniesky Betancourt and a sacrifice fly by Gallardo.

Mark Kotsay, who started in center in place of the struggling Nyjer Morgan, hit a solo homer in the third to put the Brewers to within one. But the Milwaukee bats went silent after that.

Chris Carpenter allowed just one more hit in his 5 inning start. And then 4 St. Louis relievers each threw a perfect frame to nail down their victory. Carpenter got the win, improving to 2-0 in the post-season.

Gallardo is 1-1 after being torched for 4 runs, 8 hits, and 5 walks in five innings. Gallardo is now 1-8 lifetime against the Cards.

Milwaukee now has an 8 game losing streak on the road in the post-season, dating back to 1982. The Brewers must win 3 of the remaining 4 games to win the LCS and advance to the World Series.

Only five National League teams have done that since 1985. Game 4 is Thursday night in St. Louis. You can hear all the action with Bob Uecker and Cory Provus starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. on 97.5/1360 News Talk WTAQ.

Left-hander Randy Wolf faces Cardinals’ right-hander Kyle Lohse.