ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Ben Sheets worked six scoreless innings and Ryan Braun was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-0 on Tuesday night.
Prince Fielder had three hits and two RBIs for the Brewers, who have won seven straight over the Cardinals and are 10-4 overall heading into the season series finale on Wednesday. Craig Counsell doubled twice and had three hits as the Brewers (77-55) moved 22 games above .500 for the first time since they were 92-70 at the end of the 1992 season.
The Brewers moved 41?2 games ahead of the Cardinals for the wild card berth and remained five games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Sheets (12-7) beat the Cardinals for the sixth time in 20 career decisions, allowing five hits and retiring his final eight hitters.
Braun is batting .491 with seven homers and 13 RBIs against the Cardinals this season.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mariners 3, Twins 2
SEATTLE -- Jose Lopez's drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Roy Corcoran got his first career save in Seattle's victory over Minnesota Tuesday, the fourth consecutive loss for the suddenly grinding Twins.
Minnesota fell to two games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, its largest deficit since play began on July 27. The Twins are also 21?2 games behind Boston in the AL wild-card standings.
Mariotti resigns
Longtime Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti has resigned ''to pursue other opportunities.'
Mariotti joined the Sun-Times in 1991 and has been a regular panelist on ESPN.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Mariotti, whom it called ''controversial,'' says he quit because the future of sports journalism ''sadly is not in newspapers'' but online.
Replay begins
ADVERTISEMENT
Umpires will be allowed to check video on home run calls starting Thursday after Major League Baseball, guardian of America's most traditional sport, reversed its decades-long opposition to instant replay.
Commissioner Bud Selig, who described himself as ''old fashioned'' and an admirer of baseball's ''human element,'' softened his opposition following a rash of blown calls this year.
For now, video will be used only on so-called ''boundary calls,'' such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence, whether potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs.
Yaz released
Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was released from a hospital one week after having triple bypass surgery. The former Boston Red Sox outfielder had surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital after experiencing chest pains. His discharge was announced by team spokesman John Blake.
New bat
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. -- A New Jersey inventor says he has come up with a way to take that aluminum ''ping'' out of youth baseball and the broken bat out of the national pastime, while making the game a little safer with every swing.
It's the unbreakable wooden bat, at least one that is guaranteed for a year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ward Dill unveiled his Radial Bat, promising the revolutionary stick would prevent injuries caused by the shattering of conventional wooden bats while providing a safer alternative to metal bats used in youth leagues and through college.
