MILWAUKEE -- Three up and three down from Monday night's 4-3 loss to St. Louis at Miller Park:

THREE UP ...

It's a start

Every little glimmer of hope is good for a team struggling with the bat like the Brewers. In the Brewers' two-run third, Rickie Weeks doubled in a run and Ryan Braun added a run-scoring single. Those were needed on a night when the lineup featured two players -- Weeks and Gabe Gross -- hitting under .200 and three others -- Braun, Prince Fielder and Bill Hall -- under .230.

Now that's better

Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva allowed one hit over his final four innings and retired the last eight Cardinals he faced.

Getting it down

With his roster short on bench players, manager Ned Yost must be creative. Pitcher Jeff Suppan made it pay off in the seventh inning. He pinch-hit for Villanueva and put down a perfect sacrifice bunt.

... THREE DOWN

A simple solution

One reason Villanueva has struggled to go deep in games is his tendency to nibble, which almost inevitably adds to his pitch count. Through four innings, he had thrown 62 pitches, but 28 of them were out of the strike zone. He walked four in his first three innings.

Know when to go

Runner on second and less than two outs and a ground ball to shortstop. What does the runner do? Gross decided to go to third. At least he got himself in a pickle, giving batter Jason Kendall enough time to reach second as Gross was tagged out. But Gross would have been better served trying to reach third after the throw to first, forcing Albert Pujols (ailing right elbow) to make the throw across the diamond.

A tough night

Corey Hart has turned into an accomplished right fielder, but Monday was not a good night for him. He misplayed Troy Glaus' liner to the wall into a two-run double and missed Ryan Ludwick's liner down the line to start the eighth.