ST. LOUIS -- Ryan Braun hit a solo home run in the ninth inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat St. Louis 2-1 Sunday, dropping the Cardinals back in the NL wild-card race.
The Cardinals are a half-game behind the Mets for the second wild-card slot.
Braun connected off Kevin Siegrist (5-3) for his 27th homer of the season.
St. Louis had tied it in the eighth when Matt Carpenter doubled and scored on Stephen Piscotty's sacrifice fly off Tyler Thornburg (6-5).
Thornburg struck out three in the ninth.
San Francisco Giants
The Brewers' other run came in the first on singles by Scooter Gennett and Braun and a sacrifice fly from Chris Carter.
Milwaukee had just four hits in the game, with Braun getting the only one after the fifth inning.
Zach Davies pitched 7 1-3 innings and gave up one run on five hits while striking out seven and walking one.
Cardinals rookie Luke Weaver allowed three hits in six innings. He struck out eight with one walk.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha, who has missed 29 games with shoulder inflammation, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Monday. He threw one Friday.
ACTIVATED
The Cardinals activated All-Star shortstop Aledmys Diaz from the disabled list. Diaz, 26, had missed 36 games since he broke his right thumb when he was hit by a pitch from the Marlins' Andrew Cashner. At the time he was injured, Diaz was hitting a team-leading .312 with 14 homers and 57 RBIs in 96 games.
ATTENDANCE
The Cardinals eclipsed the 3 million mark in attendance for the 13th consecutive year and joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as the second team to pass the figure this season. It is the 20th time overall St. Louis has passed the 3 million total.
UP NEXT
Brewers: Wiley Peralta (6-9) will face Cincinnati's Keyvius Sampson(0-1). Peralta, the opening day starter, earned a win in his last start Sept. 6 in a 12-5 victory over the Cubs.
Cardinals: Mike Leake (9-9) will face Chicago's Kyle Hendricks (14-7) on Monday night at Busch Stadium. It will be Leake's 199th career start. He was activated from 15-day DL (shingles) before his last start on Sept. 7 and allowed three runs in 4 1-3 innings for no-decision in a 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
