Manager Ned Yost said he saw no reason to gather his struggling players and read them the riot act after losing the final six games of the three-city road trip to drop two games below .500, entering Friday night.

"You look for certain signs," said Yost. "You look for them feeling sorry for themselves. You look for them not hustling. These kids don't do that. They come out and play hard and give everything they have.

"You just stay supportive and stay positive. You know they're good enough to pull themselves out of it. When you're struggling pitching-wise and offensively, it looks rough at times. You have to let them pitch their way out of it and swing their way out of it.

"You don't have to 'light up' the clubhouse. It depends on who you're dealing with, and your expectations and your demands as the leader of this team. I want these kids to come out and leave everything they have on that field.

"The team we have is the team that we have. Screaming and yelling doesn't do any good. How am I going to get them out of it? The only way I can get them out of it is to keep doing what I'm doing, staying patient with them, staying supportive and staying positive."

Yost also said he had no plans to make substantial changes to his lineup until he sees how it performs in the four games against St. Louis. The offense scored just 16 runs in the six consecutive losses on the trip.

BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 3: It was probably the biggest and most unlikely victory of the season for the Brewers. They had two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth Friday and appeared headed for their seventh consecutive loss when J.J. Hardy singled. Pinch-hitter Gabe Kapler followed with another, and Jason Kendall walked to load the bases. Rickie Weeks then delivered perhaps the biggest hit of the season for the Brewers when he lined a two-out single to left. The losing streak was over, one in which the Brewers scored a grand total of 16 runs.

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