MILWAUKEE â€" Corey Hart homered twice, Zack Greinke pitched three-hit ball for seven innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 on Saturday.
Rickie Weeks homered while Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Gomez added RBI doubles for the Brewers, who rebounded after dropping Friday’s opener. Ryan Braun had a pair of doubles and drew a walk after going 0 for 5 on Friday.
Greinke (1-0) continued the dominant form he showed at Miller Park all last season. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.
Greinke’s strong outing overshadowed the long-awaited return to the mound for the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, who missed all of the 2011 season after having elbow surgery.
Wainwright (0-1) went 5 2-3 innings, giving up four hits and three runs with a walk and six strikeouts. It was his first regular-season start since Sept. 24, 2010, a span of 563 days.
Hart led off the second with a monster home run, so deep that left fielder Matt Holliday didn’t even move when the ball came off the bat.
Wainwright settled down until the sixth, when he allowed a leadoff single to Weeks, then committed a throwing error that allowed Nyjer Morgan to reach first on a sacrifice bunt attempt.
Wainwright then got Ryan Braun to hit into a double play, sending Weeks to third. Ramirez doubled off the wall in left-center field, scoring Weeks to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny lifted Wainwright in favor of Victor Marte, and Corey Hart pounced on a pitch for a two-run homer to center and a 4-0 lead. It was the 12th multi-homer game of Hart’s career.
Greinke gave up only two hits - both singles by David Freese, one of which was an infield hit - in the first five innings. Things seemed to start unraveling in the sixth, when Greinke gave up a one-out single to Rafael Furcal and allowed him to go to second base on a wild pitch. But Greinke struck out Carlos Beltran and got Holliday to ground out.
Greinke was unbeatable at home for the Brewers last season, going 11-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 15 home starts during the regular season, and getting a win in the playoffs.
Greinke can become a free agent at the end of the season, making his future a critical question for the Brewers. General manager Doug Melvin said Friday that he and Greinke’s agent, Casey Close, discussed a potential new deal.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless eighth and Jose Veras closed out the ninth for Milwaukee.
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